Classroom Design Ideas for Teachers: Planning Classroom Setup & Decor

Did you know that the layout and decor of your classroom can significantly impact student engagement and learning outcomes? Science tells us that our environment can influence our mood, affect our behavior, and improve our productivity. An intentional classroom design isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s a powerful tool to foster an inspiring and engaging learning environment. Let’s dive into some classroom design ideas for teachers to help you create a classroom that feels as good as it looks!

By the end of this classroom design school, you will have a layout, setup, and decor plan that you’ll be able to implement in just a few days. This tried and true classroom planning process will ensure that you won’t spend money on unneeded items and won’t spend time aimlessly puttering around your room without results.

Since saving time (and money) is the goal, let’s jump right into it! 

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Like most educators, I’m a sucker for an acronym. Here’s the classroom design acronym we’ll be following:

Good classroom design starts with DECOR:

1. D- Declutter 
2. E – Educate 
3. C – Collect 
4. O – Organize 
5. R –  Relax & Rally

Step 1: D is for Declutter Your Classroom 

Decluttering your classroom is truly the most important step in the classroom design process. In fact, if you ONLY decreased the clutter in your classroom and didn’t do anything else, you’d be well on your way to creating a better learning environment for your students. You can read research on the effects of classroom clutter and start your decluttering journey in this post: The Life-Changing Magic of a Clean Classroom

Step 2: E is for Educate Yourself about Classroom Design

In addition to visual clutter and its effect on the learning process, there are some fascinating studies on how our environment influences everything from our mood to learning outcomes. 

Here are some sources to launch your research: 

• The Science of Classroom Design from Edutopia– This is a fantastic article that gives you practical advice for classroom design, backed by research. 
• 12 Ways to Upgrade Your Classroom Design from Cult of Pedagogy – This is another great article that helps you think about classroom design and the role it plays in student-centered learning. 
• Brain-friendly Teacher: How to Create Lasting Learning through Classroom Design & Instruction – I picked this book up specifically for chapter three titled “Brain-friendly Classroom Design” and can tell the author and I are definitely on the same page when it comes to using research to inform classroom design!

As you are researching classroom design, be sure to keep these classroom design elements in mind:

• Movement– Movement in the classroom can be instrumental in engagement and learning outcomes and there’s tons of research to support this. So, how can you arrange your classroom to make room for movement? In every classroom I’ve designed, I’ve been able to remove unnecessary filing cabinets and useless furniture to create more room for movement activities like learning stations, gallery walks, games, and more. 
• Desk Layout– In my opinion, the best desk layout is one that can be easily rearranged for different classroom activities such as Socratic seminars, speed discussions, or group projects. In our book, Keeping the Wonder: An Educator’s Guide to Magical, Engaging, and Joyful Learning, we discuss how the element of surprise is a wonderful teaching tool and rearranging your desks is an easy way to achieve this! In my teaching career, I’ve had students in single-file rows, stadium seating, clusters of four, and plenty more. To me, all of the desk arrangement possibilities have their pros and cons, so pick the one that best fits your room, and don’t be afraid to switch things up! 
• Safety- Before you get too deep into designing the layout and decor of your room, you will need to find out the Fire Marshal codes for your school. For example, here are the rules I must follow: State Fire Marshal’s Office . This varies by state and even by school, so be sure to ask! The absolute WORST would be to spend hours of work only to have your classroom design not pass inspection. These rules are designed to keep children safe, so work with the rules, not against them. 

Step 3: C is for Collect Classroom Design Ideas for Teachers

Now it’s time to start the visualization process for how you want your classroom to look! This is the fun part! This is where you let yourself dream while scrolling through pretty pictures of designer eye candy. Pinterest and Instagram are my go-tos for a visual search engine, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed if you don’t know what to search for, so I’m going to give you some tips. 

First, think of the overall feeling you want to achieve in your classroom. It might be “calm” or “bright” or “homey” or whatever word comes to mind when you think of your dream classroom environment. Ask yourself: 

• What do I want my classroom to feel like?
• How do I want students to act in the environment?  
• What is the overall vibe I want my classroom to have?

Once you have your answers, start your search outside the classroom. Save everything you find to be beautiful and inspirational. Example feeling search: 

• Calm
• Calm Colors
• Calm House Décor
• Calm Playroom 
• Calm Kids Bedroom
• Calm Classroom

Save anything and everything that catches your eye. Now is not the time for restraint! 

For those who are thinking about a theme, that can be your next search. I have a fun trick for you on this one. First, search for your theme + “classroom.” If that doesn’t yield many results, try your theme + “wedding.” Most likely, this will bring up so many designs to inspire you—especially for secondary classrooms!  Again, save everything that excites you. Example theme search: 

• Boho 
• Boho Colors
• Boho Birthday 
• Boho Wedding
• Boho Classroom 

After your free-flow saving sessions, it’s now time to look at your inspiration folders and figure out what you are drawn to. I recommend letting your inspiration files sit a while before doing this step. 

After taking a step back and then looking at your boards again, you will most likely find a pattern either in color, feel, or setup. Take note of repetition. This is the style you are drawn to because it keeps showing up again and again. After noticing what you are attracted to the most, now is the time to delete the duds. Just like with decluttering your classroom, you must delete the visual clutter from your board (or start a new one) so that your board has only the BEST of the BEST.

  After this process, repeat the reflection step by taking note of your BEST of the BEST. Were you drawn to flexible seating or more structure? Did your pins reflect calming colors or invigorating ones? Take the time to study what it is you really like in the inspiration photos.

Now that you know what inspires you, make a mission statement that describes the overall feel you want to achieve in your classroom. This will keep you on track and maybe even help with your classroom wishlist!

When my students walk into my classroom, I want them to feel _____________. My research-based classroom design will help me achieve this by_______________. The supplies and decor in my classroom are more than just things. They work together to ______________________. 

Step 4: O is for Organize Your Classroom Design Plan

Wildflower Book Print Artist

Find a Lead Piece to Inform Your Classroom Design and Decor 

After noticing, noting, and narrowing, it’s time to taper down even more. In fact, you are going to reduce your inspiration down to ONE SINGLE ITEM. Choose one item that you have or that you will purchase that speaks to you. The item you choose should be beautiful, bring you joy, and embody what you are trying to create in your classroom.

This is your “lead piece,” the one thing in your room that takes the lead for all the other decisions you make. This lead piece will determine your color scheme, design aesthetic, and theme–so make it something special! 

In the classroom mood board above, I used this gorgeous print as my lead piece.

Make a Mood Board for Your Classroom Design

After finding your lead piece, now you are going to make a mood board. This is what fancy designers do before beginning a project. To do this, create a blank project in Canva (or a mood board template) and insert an image of your lead piece. Next, start adding in posters, bulletin board paper, bulletin board borders, and other elements from your inspiration photos. 

Canva is an amazing tool for making mood boards because it will quickly and effectively remove backgrounds from images. This helps keep your mood board visually decluttered! Canva also makes it easy to insert a color palette to your classroom design mood board so that you can create a cohesive look.  

See how this classroom turn out in this post: High School Classroom Decor: Semi Flexible Seating in a Secondary ELA Classroom

Design a Floorplan for Your Classroom Layout 

If you know your classroom measurements, you can be extra organized by creating a floor plan. This is my favorite tool for floor planning because it gives you a 3D walk-through view, but it can be a bit advanced since it’s really for house planning rather than classroom planning. Though I haven’t tried them, there are specific classroom design websites out there if you want to do a quick search. However, you can create a more than ample floor plan the good old-fashioned way, with paper and pencil! 🙂 

Brainstorm Ideas for Classroom Walls

After creating an overall mood board, now you can brainstorm the design of each wall. One of the biggest design challenges for classrooms is deciding what to do with HUGE blank walls. There are basically only three ways to overcome this design challenge.

1. Consider keeping one wall blank. While sterile classrooms are not very inspiring, there is some valid research on why having at least one blank wall in your classroom can benefit learning. According to Brain-friendly Teacher: How to Create Lasting Learning through Classroom Design & Instruction, blank spaces (sometimes known as white space) are necessary to help the brain absorb and organize information. 

2. Create large art installations. Lots of small posters create visual clutter, but large art can be very pricey, so here are some ways to achieve scale without busting your budget:

• Create shower curtain art 
• Hang a pretty tapestry 
• Use a photography backdrop
• Install a mural 
• Print large posters

3. Group small pieces together to create a cohesive display.  One small poster or item on a large wall looks out-of-place, but when you group smaller items together, you suddenly have a chic display. For example:

• Gallery walls 
• Poster groupings 
• Mirror or clock groupings 
• Geometric shape groupings 
• Student work displays

Create a Classroom Wishlist 

Now that you have a solid classroom design plan, it’s time to make a list of what you need to implement it! I have been teaching this classroom design method for years and the most common feedback I receive is that it helps teachers save money. I know it might seem counterintuitive, but having a mood board and list prevents impulse purchases and increases your likelihood of fulfillment. 

Here are some classroom design budget strategies: 

• Buy neutral organizers and containers. If you are setting up your classroom for the first time, I can’t stress enough to buy neutral basics. The likelihood of you keeping the same classroom theme for your entire career is slim. If you invest in neutral storage and supplies, you’ll be able to change your classroom colors without buying all new stuff. 
• Make your own posters and labels in Canva. To match your mood board, create cohesive classroom design, and save money on classroom decor kits, use Canva! They generously offer free accounts for educators and with just a few clicks, you can create classroom posters, signs, and labels in your mood board colors. 
• Post your mood board on social media asking friends and family if they have anything that fits your design.
• Share your Amazon wishlist when you find the opportunity (if allowed by your school district). But just a warning here, classroom decor on Amazon wish lists can be a bit controversial, but I stand by everything in this post so it personally doesn’t bother me when I see it. 
• Go thrifting. If you enjoy thrifting like I do, you’ll be amazed at what you can find now that you know exactly what to look for! Keep a screenshot of your mood board for a visual reminder on the go!
• Build upon your collection each year. This isn’t an all-or-nothing situation. Buy a few things from your mood board that spark joy and add to them year after year!

Step 5: R is for Relax then Rally for Classroom Setup! 

Nesting is a biological phenomenon, and there’s just something in our brains that won’t let us move on until our environment is secure. Once you have solidified your classroom design plan, I urge you to relax until it’s setup time! From my experience, once I checked this task off my list, I could move to other important things like planning the first day of school activities or simply soaking up the rest of my time off. 

But, when the floor wax is finally dry and you get the keys to your classroom, it’s time to rally! This is your chance to watch your mood board come to life and design a classroom that reflects your teaching style and meets your students’ needs. Because you have an intentional classroom design plan that is backed by research and inspired by beauty, your classroom will become a happier and more productive place to learn.

Happy decorating!

P.S. I’d love to see how your classroom turns out! Tag me @BuildingBookLove