Church Nursery - Part 2 of 4: The Prep

So after we looked at the existing nursery (see Part 1:The Before), I sat down with the nursery directory to go over budget, expectations, and times that we could work.

Because it is a working nursery - meaning there are people in and out of it all the time, we had to dodge that a bit.  I did as much prep work as I could at home, and then we moved in (and hid in an unused classroom).

Step One: Fight with label maker (apparently my roller was sticky, because after I cleaned it (and printed the label, "HELP!", in desperation) it worked.

Prints lots of labels.  One item that we decided the "older" classes needed was a place to store coloring pages and construction paper.  For three rooms, we made labels, folders, and file boxes.

I needed some crafty help - in the name of my friend, Brandi.  She's handy, crafty, and just the right person to help me make eight (!) clipboards for the classrooms.  Thanks to a few tips from Pintrest, check out how well they turned out! 

Also added some crafty little pens (a pen, some electrical tape, and a fake flower) so the pens in the nursery wouldn't "run" off accidently.

All different, but all black and white, to match our Container Store boxes.

5 Walmarts (I love the Sterlite Modular Latch Containers) later I had all my boxes and got set to label...

...and label...

... and label ...

... and stack ...

... and stack higher ...

... and to try to get creative in how I photographed my stacking ...

... until I was done.  Then it was compression time, time to stack within stacks, so that it could all fit in my car (with my and my 2 assistants... er, kids)

I was 100% looking like a container hoarder when we loaded up Sunday night to begin work Monday morning...

Tune in next time for Part 3 of 4: The During!