Spirit Dens #1 – Decorating a Back-to-School Den

Hey Jammers! 

I'm Chorus2010, and I'm excited to be kicking off this new segment entitled Spirit Dens! Here you'll be able to get ideas for your own dens, as well as see dens made by other readers that I'll feature.

I've been a fan of AJS since the very start, so I'm thrilled to be part of the team. I'll place a little "About Chorus" section at the bottom of the post, so be sure to check it out! Spirit Dens will be posted every Wednesday at 2:00 PM AJS time. In the comments below, tell me what kind of themed den you'd like me to put together next!

(Oh dear I've used a lot of exclamation marks.)

Now that I've said all that, let's get started!

Back to school season is upon us, and with that, Animal Jam HQ has brought us the Back to School Party. This nifty event has brought us a host of new school items! Many jammers are hosting their own schools in their den using them, so I thought this theme would be the perfect way to start Spirit Dens.

The first thing that you'll need to do is to select the den that you wish to use. I've chosen the Restaurant Den, as it has a nice open floor plan and a kitchen that we can use as a cafeteria!

You can buy one in the Den Store for only 4,000 gems! Though this den is members only, the design would work just as well in a small house. (I'll be sure to do some non-member dens in the future.)

The next step is selecting the right floor and walls for your den. This choice will alter the "mood" of your den, whether it's toned down or spruced up!

I've selected the Red Brick Walls and the Wood Floor.

While neither of these items are currently available in store, you can trade for them or win them as prizes in the Forgotten Desert.

Some nice in store options, (As of September 9th, 2015), are the Brown Tile and the Dust Striped Walls.

Both are available for the low price of 400 gems in Jam Mart Furniture!

Now that we've chosen our den and our walls/flooring, let's get started with our decoration!

Beginning with the exterior of the restaurant, you may notice that there's limited space. That's not a huge concern to me as I'm not very handy with garden decoration, however I've adorned my little outdoor area with some cherry and seasonal trees, as well as two Large Stone Planters from Graham's Workshop and a Rustic Hanging Lantern from Outback Imports.

This serves as a nice space for your students to come into.

As we move inside, there's a small entryway with a cushioned bench, a chalkboard, and a computer. The chalkboard and the computer are giveaways that it's a restaurant, so I've come up with an easy fix to the problem. Cover the menu board with the Schoolyard Window, and the computer with a large plant. It's not perfect, but it'll do! I also placed some books around the bench to make it a cozy study nook.

It's the perfect place to curl up and take a nap before class!

As we continue to move farther into the den, I've placed eight desks in neat rows to serve as the main classroom area. I found eight to be the magic number as it makes the class look full without crowding everything. 

Thanks to the 2 pawsome AJS fans I found in Jamaa
 who helped to pose for this picture!
From left to right: Chorus, Dinogirl104, Kawaiipiratefox.

In the front of the room we have two whiteboards that I've positioned so that they cover the lights in the wall. In the corner I've placed a science fair project as well as a Jamaasian flag which matches the wood color perfectly.

Ms. Happyhiker is ready to teach her class!

Ms. Happyhiker needs a place to grade her papers when her students are gone, so I've reserved a little corner of the room for her desk.

After class, your students are going to be very hungry! This is when the built in kitchen will come in handy. Placing a Cake Bake Kitchen from Epic Wonders over the old stove set is a popular trick that makes your kitchen about 10x cuter than it was before! (These are legitimate calculations, I've checked.) It fits perfectly which leads me to believe that AJHQ did it on purpose. 

Our chef is horsing around in the kitchen...

To serve your hungry students, you can create a simple lunch counter for students to line up behind.

All you need to do this is some wooden shelves. I used one long wood shelf and one shorter one smushed together, non members could use multiple small shelves to gain the same effect. Place the shelves in the entrance to your kitchen, and bam! (The chef is now trapped inside the kitchen?)

On top of these shelves you can place fruit, mugs, bowls, or whatever it is that you fancy! 

Your students will be needing some space to store all of their heavy textbooks, so make good use of the deck space out back and turn it into a locker room! 

You can hide the lights by placing some plants over top of them. I like the pretty glow that comes off of the base of the plants when you do that. By adding a little rug, the place becomes much more home like. A water fountain is a good way to insure that your students will never be thirsty, and you can use the extra room at the bottom of the deck to create a little computer space with some comfy egg chairs.

Isn't that cute?

Here's a full view of the den!

I hope you guys have enjoyed viewing my school den, but now I want to see yours!

Email your finished dens along with your Animal Jam username to chorus2010aj@gmail.com and I'll feature my favorites right here next Wednesday! The most creative school den will win a lovely Blue Vine flooring!

If you're a member, I will send it to you, or if you're a non member, I'll buddy you so we can arrange a time to meet up and I can trade it to you!

My den is almost always unlocked, so come swing by and say hey, or send me a Jam-A-Gram!

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Now for the "About Chorus" section!

I'm Chorus2010, and I've been playing AJ for 5 years. I was 10 when the game first came out, making me 15 now! I discovered AJ by reading the National Geographic Kids magazine, and I was immediately hooked. I've met some great people on this website and I continue to meet more every day. I'm not quite sure what my username means, other than I began playing in 2010!

I couldn't be more excited to join the AJS team, and I hope you like the Spirit Dens segment.

Again, let me know what themes you'd like to see in the comments down below!

Au revoir,