DIY: Family Command Center

Today I am sharing with you a little project that I have been working on for the past couple of weeks!  I’m copying everyone else on Pinterest and calling it a family command center.  It’s a small project that didn’t cost a lot of money and has been a lifesaver in terms of organizing our everyday activities as a family.

Here is the before.  We had a small counter top mail organizer that held everything from mail, to batteries, receipts, bills, stickers, gift cards, photos, etc, but it was hardly organized. 

I knew we were in need of a space that would work as a command center, a space to keep our family organized.

The space I used was a  30" wall right outside of our kitchen.  It seemed like the perfect area to house everything we needed to function throughout the days, weeks, and months.

Since we don’t have a built in desk area in the house I’ve been looking for inexpensive options for a command center.  The area wasn’t suitable for a large piece of furniture, which meant I had to resort to using just the wall.

The first thing I added to the space was a whiteboard.  I wanted one large enough to use as a calendar to record our monthly schedules, and as a place to jot down reminders and notes.  Instead of going out and buying one, I thought I would try to save some money and make my own. 

To do this, I took an old 16x20 picture frame we weren’t using and spray painted it white.  Then, in Excel, I created a simple Sunday through Saturday calendar layout and mounted it onto a piece of scrapbooking paper to give it a pop of color!  So simple!

Next, I needed something that could easily hold our mail, bills and other miscellaneous paper items.  I ventured out to my local office supply store and found these.  They were perfect!  They were big enough to hold multiple things, and didn’t jut out from the wall too far!

I added cute, chalk board labels as a way to easily identify the contents of each pocket.

Next, I needed something that could hold a few of the bulkier items we seemed to use daily.  Things like pens, notepads, car keys, etc. 

I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for in terms of this last piece, but then one day, on a random trip to Michaels, I found it!  A small, $5.00, wooden crate – simple enough!  I immediately bought it and took it home to spray paint!  Since there were slots in the crate I glued a piece of foam board to the bottom so that nothing would slip though.  Worked like a charm!

The last thing I added doesn’t really function in any organizational way, but sums up the purpose of the project. 

There you have it, our family command center in a nutshell.  It’s one of my favorite spots in our house and it’s made such a difference in keeping things simple, organized and stress-free! 

As time goes on, I anticipate needing to make changes to this spot.  I foresee things like a chore chart, homework spot, etc.  

I will be sure to keep you updated!

Shared with:

Enjoy Essential

Weekend Block Party