The Culinary Inn: I'm truly sorry that the little observation I made about the lovely Mr. Ironwood took away the focus from your question at first. Good to see that we're all back to business :-) Good luck with your cooking school. I'm sure that with the help of all the lovely Houzzers who know what they're talking about, it will be a lovely kitchen. I don't know much about kitchens, so I can't help. Sorry.

Any home schoolers to weigh in here? I'm still deciding if I'm doing individual desks for each, or try to pair some up. Each *do* need their own space, but, does that necessarily mean an entire desk? I'm still trying to figure that out. Then if I do individual desks, do I place them against walls? Facing wall, or facing center of room? I don't do a lot of 'whole group' teaching where I would need everyone facing the front of the room to pay attention to me. And I plan to have my desk large enough to accommodate one on one time with each as needed. (also we'd have another room with space for science labs) Love IKEA :) I have two bookcases from there now (not Billy)..they are 'double wide' (I'll see if I can find them and come back to post) that have a pull out desk drawer that two are using presently for their workspace. I could continue to use those. But that does away with that white furniture theme ;) as these are dark brown. I also have 2 drawers on each for containing preschoolers stuff. I definitely want some bean bags/puffy floor pillows! What about using some of those around a shorter 'group' table, as I mentioned for the littles? Is there a table y'all know of that would be of appropriate height for something like that? (and anything that can be found at IKEA is perfect! I like that style and that's where I had already planned/hoped to purchase all my needs ;) ) Thanks for the help thus far. I do love the letters and had wondered about possibly doing that. We could make it an art project, each kid gets to paint a few letters. Win-win, right?

I am a high school FACS (home ec) teacher. My principle is interested in possibly investing in a 3 D printer for my high school interior design class. This is something that would be purchased with grant funding that is to support industry standards. ( something that would be used out in the work place by interior designers/design firms) Is this something that would be a valuable piece of equipment to use in my classroom? Why or Why not. I am not sold on its educational benefits(and I lack the knowledge of what the benefits would be). What quality of 3d printer would need to be purchased to replicate what is being used in the real working world? Any suggestions on a particular printer versus another. Cost will most certainly be of a concern, is the supplies needed to create the 3 D image expensive. Please be honest, there are many other educational items I need and I do not want to invest in something that would have little educational value in the long run. If from my research and advice from professionals can show me the benefit of the investment and maybe some suggestions of how I could use it in my classroom then I am all for the purchase. Any and all help/advice would be greatly appreciated and price estimates if you have any would be great too. Thanks Deb

Thank you for the nice compliments. As a designer for television I have to develop out of the box ideas using products/materials unconventionally and at times making something out of nothing to put into my designs. Yes, we sealed the countertops, used a product used for stone countertops but do not remember the exact product - I would recommend this this slate is a very porous dry stone. Whom to contact for blackboards? Try craigslist or salvage yards, where I found these, there were about 60 huge slabs to choose from. I love the challenge of creating new innovative designs with repurposed products and out of the box projects. I love hearing others creative uses for items and would really like to see pictures - so please share!