Monday Made It: Computer Chair and Parts Bin OVERHAULED!

We are linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!  We love to browse all of the great made-its each week and wanted to share a couple overhauls we've done...

Computer Chair Overhaul (Courtney)

In November of last year, my aunt passed away and my father gave me some of her things that basically he didn't know what to do with. I got a black, felt computer "rolly" chair that was in great condition. The ironic thing is my dad gave it to me because he thought my daughter needed a chair for her new desk, when actually I had just ordered her one! So this chair was sitting in my garage when I saw a picture on Pinterest (which of course I didn't pin so I can't post it to show you) of a chair someone had recovered. Now let me just say right now that I am NOT creative or clever when it comes to doing things like this. You may have noticed that Sarah is the only one of us that creates things, because it hurts my brain to think anymore than I have to. But I figured, recovering a chair can't be that hard, and with a little help from my new friend, the electric stapler, recovering my chair was super easy! I am going to use it in my small group area in the fall.

Parts Bin Overhaul (Sarah) 

I have been seeing nifty drawer organizers all over the internet and decided to customize a parts bin for this coming school year.  I give my kids access to all of the handy-dandy supplies in the room, but in the past they have been kept in a large "31" bin that I had embroidered with the words "This & That".  We just threw everything in there--which was good, in a way, because everything was in one place.  As you can imagine, it wasn't the greatest idea in many ways, though.  Loose staples, paperclips, brads, and rings were at the bottom of the bin, and the kids had to root around to find things. I liked the drawer bin idea, except for the fact that the ones I had been seeing had little, narrow drawers and not as many larger drawers. I bought one at Home Depot anyway and decided I could make it work...

THEN, I came upon an 18 drawer cabinet with large drawers ! I snatched it up!  No worries, my husband said he could put the one I had already bought to good use. :0) Saved me a trip back to return!

I started by making a list of all of the things I want kids to be able to access easily (and made sure they would fit in the drawers). Then I used the new rainbow backgrounds, that I created in Adobe Illustrator, for the drawer labels.  The font I chose was HelloDotSticks by HelloLiteracy.

Here is the finished product! 

I printed the labels on card stock and laminated them with my Scotch laminator so they were nice and sturdy.  Then I just used crystal clear scotch tape to attach them to the inside of the drawers.  I hope these pics are easy to see...

I used about a 2-inch piece of tape and put it along the backside, bottom edge of the label so that it hung over about halfway. 

Then I held the sticky side of the tape back while I positioned the label on the inside of the drawer, and then I pressed firmly to secure the tape to the curve and bottom of the drawer.

Last, I put a piece of tape along the top and pressed it securely. 

I considered spray painting the cabinet black (I love black!), but I decided to leave it the way it is--dark-blue metallic. I think the kids will love it--they always seem to love organization! :0)

Check out Fourth Grade Frolics for more Monday Made It ideas!