Back to School ideas: Top tips for creating the perfect ‘Homework Station’.
How can it be August already? This year is hurtling along at such a pace it won’t be long before the school bell is ringing in a new academic year. If you’re looking for ways to enthuse your kids about the new school term after a fun-filled and carefree summer, creating an inspirational homework station might be a great way to spark their interest. As a member of Wayfair’s Home Expert Panel, I’ve been invited to share my top tips for creating the perfect homework station. Let’s hope these ideas will have your kids itching to get back to school.
Top tips for creating the perfect Homework Station.
1. Creating space for their creative place.
If you want to create a homework area for your child, it isn’t always easy to find a ‘dedicated space’. You have to work with what you’ve got. When we planned our youngest’s bedroom makeover last year, a desk area was on her wish list. However, fitting a desk into her room was a challenge once we’d installed our Ikea Hack bed (HERE) and added a wardrobe.
The good news is, you can still create the perfect homework station if space is limited:
a) Make a DIY desk to fit the space.
We used leftover MDF from our Ikea Hack bed and some Ikea Krille legs to custom-make a desk to fit the space in youngest’s bedroom (HERE). Opting for legs with castors also means youngest can easily move her desk to get access to her chest of drawers.
b) Fold-away desks.
If you can’t create a permanent homework station, why not opt for a flexible or temporary work area instead like the Irvin Floating desk by Home Etc (Wayfair.co.uk)?
c) Compact and clever desks solutions.
Rather than big, bulky desks and workstations, there are plenty of smaller designs to choose from. Here’s a selection of my favourite clever and/or compact desk solutions from Wayfair.
- Cuuba Secretary Desk by Jahnke. 2. Tolga Writing Desk by Hokku Designs. 3. Earl Computer Desk by Wade Logan. 4. Happy 120cm W Writing Desk by Urban Designs.
2. Stylish storage.
Rather than opting for standard bookcases or shelves to store books and the plethora of bits and bobs kids collect, why not go for something a little bit different? Think outside the box by thinking about storing books inside cubes or rectangles instead? The wall cubes we chose for our youngest’s room are a fun way to display her pen pots and collectables.
3. Get organised.
If you’re anything like us, you won’t be short of pens, crayons, felt tips, rulers and erasers for your homework station. However, it may take some time to gather these items from the four corners of your home. I suggest you enlist the help of the beneficiary(s) of the homework station and get them to search down the back of every sofa and under every bed for the errant stationery items. Once found, you can finally set about the task of giving them a lovely permanent home.
There are plenty of fabulous and affordable pots, containers, desk organisers and desk tidies to choose from. Among our ‘organisers’, we opted for three colourful blue pots from John Lewis see wall cubes photo above), which I think we found among their bathroom accessories. I also created a space-saving storage solution for youngest’s pens and pencils using Ikea Bygel pots (since discontinued and replaced by Ikea Sunnersta containers), (HERE).
4. Make it fun.
Rather than buying pen pots, pinboards and memo boards that are designed for ‘grown-ups’, choose accessories that are fun and child-friendly. Here are just a few of my favourite Wayfair funky and fun homework station accessories:
- Multipurpose Container by Alessi 2. Magnetic Memo Board by Tidy Books 3. Memo Board by Zeller 4. Sharpener Desk Tidy by Suck UK.
5. Make it personal.
It’s the personal touches that will make your child’s homework station extra special. If they love superheroes, Lego, or Star Wars, why not display them? If they’re in a club or team, why not incorporate the team logo or colours into your workstation design? If they’ve won medals, trophies or certificates then why not frame them?
Over to you.
If you’ve got kids, what are your top tips for enthusing them about the return to school? What do you think are the most important ingredients for creating the perfect homework station? If you’ve already designed a homework area for your kids, either in their bedroom or in another part of your home, have you got any top tips to share?
As always, I’d love to hear from you.
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This is a Wayfair sponsored post. As always, the words and opinions are my own.
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