Preschool Mommy

I am the queen of Craigslist, I love yard sales, and am on a first name basis with the local consignment sellers. This is the only way I could have gotten all the materials I needed for the school. I have to admit that I have a disease for good deals because I CAN'T STOP!! But it is so much fun!

As you know, classroom furniture is ridiculously expensive, so I had to get creative. Here is some of the furniture I've gotten for my classroom:

Quite possibly my favorite is my art table. I needed a table that would fit 6-8 kids and couldn't afford to buy something full price. After searching for children's furniture online for a while - I was looking for a cheap train table - I had an epiphany. Children's tables are just regular tables with shorter legs... duh. I decided to look for just a nice "all wood" table, and I found a really cute kitchen table on Craigslist for $25. It didn't come with any chairs. Then, I went to Home Depot and they cut the legs off for me for free (to 20 inches table top height), and I just added some pads to the feet

Now I needed some chairs, but since I was short on space I opted to use stools. These little stools were only $9.00 each at IKEA. My mother in law was kind enough to pick them up for me so I didn't have to pay shipping. Now that I think about it... I didn't pay her anything. Oops. Sorry. :P

Another great buy was my TV stand. Yes... TV stand. I'm not playing Barney for the kids or anything -we're more of a Blues Clues house anyway :). I use it to store toys. TV stands, although soon to be extinct, are perfect for storing toys. They are low to the ground, have deep shelves, and can handle heavy loads (namely my kids' 5 billion toys!). I use two TV stands in my room, one I've had since college (yes, it is that old), and the other I got at Goodwill for $30. It was missing the doors which is why it was so cheap, and also why it was so perfect. I didn't want the doors.

Cubbies are also fairly expensive. I just got some of the cubicles made by Closet Maid, and turned them on their side. They make perfect cubbies for toys or for storing students' things. I found mine for sale at Target, but you can also find them at Wal-mart and AC Moore.
(Tip: AC Moore always has coupons on their web site)

I also found the cutest mirror on Craigslist. It's a child's full length mirror - shatterproof - soooo adorable. And I can't find a way to get it up on my classroom wall because of the chair rail. Double oops!

Do you have any good ideas for classroom storage and furniture? Please share!