I see all of these cute classrooms on Pinterest

I spend so much time in my classroom (2nd grade) that I have to make it fun and enjoyable for me to be there, plus the kids love it. We do themes by grade levels, which helps. I'm doing frogs this year, but really decided to go with a teal and lime green color theme. I'm moving classrooms or I'd share pictures, BUT, I don't have any yet, because for the first time in over 20 years my room isn't finished at the beginning of August My room won't be finished being cleaned until Monday and teachers go back on the 18th, kids the 27th. My last week of summer vacation I will spend at school emptying boxes and getting my room ready. I find many things on Pinterest and make them throughout the summer for my classroom. For example, this year, I changed the crate seats I have to match my new color theme. Back to your original question...how do I do so much? I spend a lot of time in the summer getting it ready normally.  I used to go in for a few hours on Mondays when our pool was closed in the past years.  
  I'm doing that outside my door this year.  I have a great friend/volunteer who made it for me already because she lives close to school and went up and grabbed bulletin board paper to do it.

I get to leave the stuff up on my walls from year to year, so that helps. And because there is already so much visual busy-ness in my room with open instrument storage, I keep other stuff pretty simple.

Our principal prefers that we really don't do too much cute stuff anyway. He'd rather see dynamic stuff like anchor charts and student products on the walls than static, "cute" decorations.

One of my kids favorite things was the elementary teacher who hung a new poster of a famous artwork every other week. It made them think. They were allowed to put their own inspired works next to it if they wished, anything from drawings to poetry to stories about the subject of the artwork. ( And when DD went to art history she had a little jump start. )

Other than that little corner and her zaner bloser over the whiteboard she didn't decorate her classroom other than to hang up the children's work as they did it. Nice, not over whelming.

Another teacher just had a quote if the week.

Pick one thing that means something to you or inspires you and do just that one thing.

I teach grade 4. I don't decorate, but I hang tons of student work and classroom developed charts, brainstorming and posters. My struggle is changing it out often, and I'm hoping this year to get a classroom volunteer to come in every two weeks and change it up!

I do a lot of preparation over the summer so when I go in the week before students come back it is easy to put together. I use fabric for my bulletin board backgrounds. That's very easy to take down and wash at the end of each year. It doesn't seem to fade and the pushpin holes seem to go away when you wash the fabric. I've had great luck with it. I try to keep the colors for backgrounds and borders consistent each year and change out the "theme". That works very well. I will also say that most of my "decorations" are very functional such as learning charts and posters so I use them from year to year. I refresh things when they start to get old, dated, or just tired looking. I stay late one day of each month to refresh the classroom. I can't hope to get the decorating done during the work day. The hardest thing for me is working around the old worn out furniture that I think must be original to the school. Our school was built in the 1960s and I swear we still have the same bookshelves (not built in) and teachers' desks we had when the school was initially furnished.

What grade do you teach, Nancy? I love the sound of your room!!!
Most rooms I go into when I visit middle and high schools aren't nearly as decorated as elementary schools.
My son, who is a sophomore in college, says he doesn't remember one classroom "theme" from when he was in elementary school I hope that's not the case with some of the kids I taught. I just like to make it a happy place for all of us to be.


I also use fabric on all my bulletin boards, it really makes a difference.  Another, cheaper idea, is to use vinyl table clothes.  

I love the idea of fabric on the bulletin board! Do you guys have to be careful about the fire Marshall, or do you use fabric that is flame retardant? We never know when the fire Marshall will check in and we can't have over a certain percentage of flammable material on the wall. I bet fabric looks so much nicer than plain cork or butcher paper!
Any tips for doing the edges?

I used a staple gun to assemble fabric bulletin board backgrounds, so I folded the edges under as I went.  Depending on how neatly I did it, it may not have needed a border. If it did, I would use a wide ribbon as a border. Usually plain in color (navy, yellow, or silver to go with my theme), because the background fabric typically had a subtle space or star pattern. Before I had ribbon, I used plain colored bulletin board borders if needed.

No issue with fire marshall for us; but I believe there's a spray you can use to make it flame retardant.  I use borders for the edges.

I also don't have bulletin boards but I have carpeted walls. I put butcher paper up and put borders around them to make my own, but I have to tape things up because the staples don't stick. I also use velcro to attach the paper bricks the students use to rate their books to the carpet on the walls. I don't have a lot up, but I have several large bookcases full of books that take up wall space. I have story starters up for creative writing, 6 traits of writing, and another writing poster. 

I had our custodians take down my extra blackboard and used some of my budget to purchase a large bulletin board.

I vote for plain walls...some kids do better without all the distractions and colored stuff.

You are right that a circus-like classroom with visual clutter (too many words, too much bright color) is ideal for almost no one and can be very distracting, but there has been tons of research done on color theory, classroom environment, and it's effect on learning. A stark, white-predominant classroom with bright fluorescent lighting, like many classrooms today, causes tension (re: bad attitudes and misbehavior) or eye fatigue in many students. Warm colors, subtle patterns, plants, and alternative lighting (think IKEA style) used thoughtfully not only creates a calming environment, but also increases student creativity and helps with productivity in the classroom. I know this is true for me as an adult, but also know it worked for my students, as well.  


The decor I provided was simply the canvas for student featured work and learning displays that grew as the year progressed, while providing a welcome learning atmosphere. There is definitely a fine line. The decor should not jump out at you when you enter the room, it should enhance the room. 

Curtains, bulletin board fabric, and borders in a coordinated color scheme make a huge difference.

All my boards have solid color fabric backing, black border, and the same letters. This creates continuity.
My curtains are a basic polka dot in the same colors on a black background.
All my storage baskets are in the same color scheme.

I added a little each year until I got it all to coordinate.