Our Family Command Center

With school back in session now for everyone around the country (my kids have been back since the end of August) there are lots of ideas for command centers out there.

I thought I'd show the evolution of our family command centers. In our last house we only had 1 child in school & 1 in preschool.  So....we didn't need much (unlike we do now!).  We had always hated the "fake" wood side of our cabinet but were unsure of what to do with it.  One day I was in Walmart & bought a cheapo cork board.  To my surprise it fit the side of the cabinet perfectly!  I painted the plain frame of the cork board black.  Then I painted the rest of the exposed cabinet with chalk board paint.  It was a great way to turn a space we didn't like into a useful place for our calendar, schedules & other papers.  The kids also loved having a place to draw. 

 

1st command center in our old home

Today we have several places for all the papers that come into our home.  With 3 kids in school, sports, religion classes and other activities we have lots of schedules & paperwork coming & going around here.  We have cabinets over the desk in our kitchen.  These white magazine files from Ikea store the kids papers that we don't need to access regularly.  I showed you these in my last post but thought I'd give you more details.

These bins from Pottery Barn are hanging in the hallway in our kitchen so I wanted them to look pretty.  Each of my kids have a bin & one for Mom&Dad to share.  We use these bins for the kids to keep their homework folders & papers they need to get to regularly.

Here is a picture of our current command center.  All the pieces are from Pottery Barn.  I struggled with whether I should buy them as they where not cheap.  But after looking for alternatives I decided to go for it.  It was money well spent.  We use this system daily!  My favorite is the calendar...I just wish I had room to fit 2 calendars.  :)