Tutoring Office Part 3

Chevron Door Knobs DIY

 One of my hobbies is crafting.  When I was getting my office done, of course my mind was reeling with ideas that I could do.  As usual though, I have to be careful with the money I spend.  I saw these cute chevron print handles in an Etsy shop (you can view them in my Pinterest board).  I didn't have enough money for all of them, but I did have enough to make my own.


Here's how simple they really are to make!

Materials:

• Paint in chose color
• ModPodge in Gloss
• Chevron paper
• Circle punch
• Wooden door knobs (mine are 2 1/2 in diameter)

Directions: 

Paint door knobs.  I used silver spray paint.  While they were drying, I worked on the circles. 

Punch a circle out of chevron paper.  Slowly bending and curving the paper so it isn't so flat.  They do make special crafting tools for this (they make 3-D flowers) but I didn't have one.  If you just rotate and bend a little all the way around, the paper starts to curl a little.

After the knobs dry, you can now start working with modpodge.  Paint the door knob with a layer of modpodge.  Apply the circle.  While it's still wet, move it around until it's centered in the knob.  Start pressing and rubbing the circle.  It will take a little bit of patience.  When the circle is on the knob, you can then cover it with another layer of modpodge and let dry.

When it's all dry, you can then spray it with a protectant.

Manilla Folder Holder

On my bulletin board, I have a holder to store all of my tutor payment folders.  This is a freebie you can get on my Facebook fans only page.  Seriously, all I did was take a fruit roll up box and trim it down to hold the folders.  I covered it with scrapbook paper and pinned it up.

I use this pin board to put up thank you cards I get or nice comments I receive on the blog.  Anything to keep me going and sharing when I've had a hard day.

Book Bins

Most of my tutoring library is chapter books because the students I work with are 3-8 grade.  I don't have the space to keep them by genre and in little baskets. 

So what I opted for was some big boxes with large dividers to keep them

organized by author.  The books are stacked in side by side so the child can look at the cover of the book.

Making these were so simple and cheap!  I went to Lowes and saw these box

es that held tarps in them.  They were the perfect size and because of the cut out shape they went together well with my little cubbies. So I grabbed the empty one and then combined two that were half empty.  I threw them in the cart and off I went.

At home, I covered just the fronts of the boxes with scrapbook paper.  What I really wanted was printed contact paper, but I couldn't find any in a pattern I particularly liked.  Then I made the dividers out of cereal boxes, boxes from Costco, etc. anything I could find in our recylce bin.  I put tabs on them to mark the letters on.  Seriously that simple! 

How do you keep your tutoring office organized and lovely?  Tomorrow I will show you how I did a chevron print wall only for $3.00!