First off, I have some wonderful teacher friends who came in on the break to help me put a fresh coat of paint on three of my art room walls. After a day of hard work and paint fumes, the classroom looked brighter and much more inviting to walk into.
Then came the building of shelves, organising our monitor system, decorating the walls, and making the classroom an environment that the students and I would like to come into everyday.
I set up the art room vocabulary from last year up on the main wall, so I can refer to it as it is needed, and as a reminder to the students. I have set up the "supply banquet" which worked really well last year, allowing the students to independently get the media they need for their projects (they also can easily put away the everyday supplies including pencils, rulers etc.).
This system of monitors has already made a huge difference to the organisation and independence of the students (and honestly it is a big help to me as well, less of my time this year has gone into cleaning up after the students!). They get an assigned role for the day and have a time limit to work in. I put up a timer up at the end of class where the art helpers do their assigned task before coming and sitting down for final feedback questions.
The students at the beginning of the year are assigned to tables (the picture above shows the table setting this year, with one more table behind the white one), but allowed to work anywhere in the classroom as long as they are:
-Working on the assigned task and working towards the checklist or rubric
-Complete their Art Room helper role without reminders
-Are safe in their choice of seat
Two big changes to my room that I wanted to make this year, were the ease of their drawing book tubs, and a clearly marked tub for White paper. I don't think I could go another term having to point out where the white paper was! A third last minute idea was to have picture up of how the cushions were to be put away, allowing the students to know how to tidily put them away quickly. (Even the foundations have been successfully putting them away in the right places!)
This is how I organised my room so far this year, with more photos to come as things keep evolving. 
