Jr. High room

Our Jr. High ministry, J-Walk, is close to Jose's and my heart because when we started serving in children's ministry these kids were in our class! We taught them as they came into 4th grade, and have been their teachers ever since. Every Wednesday (except for the last 60 days) Jose and I meet with them, and have grown really close to them.  Since we spend a lot of time with our Jr. highers I wanted this room to be special and cool for them. I found some fun ideas on Pinterest and tried to cram them all in one room. The end result is perfect, and we have had the most compliments on it.

There is a crazy amount of pictures in case anyone wants a step by step how-to. Or if you don't want to DIY then you can just pay me and I'll get my dad to go out there and do it for you. ;-)

 Sadly I have no before pictures!! So bummed. It was used as the prior churches board room (at least that is my guess). It was painted a minty green color and had a nice verse stenciled on the wall. Not horrible, but not 2012.

Our high school pastor, Micah, applied some smooth putty to one wall and sanded it down nice and smooth. Jose covered it up with some chalkboard paint.

 Ok here is the fun part.
1. First find a really handy man who will help you out. I choose my dad.

2.Ask him to install a corrugated tin wainscotting.

3.Measure out your wall and buy 2x4s to span the length of it. Nail them to the wall at the bottom and at the top height of where it will end. Sit back and watch as your Dad measures and levels and nails.

 4. Throw in a sleeping baby for kicks.

 5. Ask your senior pastor and his wife to climb up on ladders to take the really sharp tin tiles from the old church ceiling (recycle, reuse...)
6.Line up your tin tiles against the wall for placement purposes.
6. Realize every single one is a different height.
7. Panic

 8. Stop panicking because your dad can trim them

 9. Start nailing them into the top and bottom board, overlapping them slightly.

 10. Throw in a very tired, almost asleep, two year old to make things exciting and keep you on your toes.

 11. Finish applying the tin tiles across the length of your wall. Cap with a 4 inch ledge (we choose MDF finished board- I think- and spray painted it glossy black.)

 12. Where the pieces meet, cut at 45 degree angles, and nail together. Touch up paint for a more seamless look.

 13. Have your cool dad nail through the top ledge into the top 2x4. Voila!

 14. If you are really awesome, beg, steal, borrow, find and buy some great art!

 15. Finish the room with a pool table, a couch you inherited from another room, of course a chalk wall and chairs. And when the budget allows, install some really cool lighting.

For the most part the younger kids didn't say much about the decor of their classrooms, but the Jr. High kids told us they loved their room! They were begging for us to have youth group meet again. They were so excited I had already stocked the room with some candy and popcorn, and wasted no time making their mark on the wall! Looking forward to them making memories in this room!