D.I.Y Command Center

If you have been following us on Instagram or Facebook, there has been a lot of hints about our kitchen update. We live in a very small two bedroom apartment so anything that can save space and keep things organized is a big help. Our kitchen is pretty small, and it really is a multipurpose room for us. It gets used for more than just cooking and eating. So anything to help utilize the space and make it user friendly is A+ in my books.

If you're a parent of a child in school you know the amount of paperwork that comes home on a weekly basis. Between the newsletters, artwork, homework, permission forms etc it can be an overwhelming amount of stuff. Add on the mail etc from work and home life, all this stuff needs a place. In comes the "command center".

I had no idea there was a technical term for the place that you essentially drop all your junk. After a quick search on the endless pit of ideas also know as Pinterest, I found some great ideas and inspiration to make a command center of our own. 

We used to have a cabinet in our kitchen that housed anything from spices, tea cups and kids plastic dishes. It also became our dropping point for all paperwork. No matter how much I tried I couldn't get the space to look desirable at all. Not to mention the cabinet took up a ton of space and was bumped into quite frequently.   

Recently that cabinet started to break (one of doors literally fell off), so that got the ball rolling on getting a command center that would not only work for us but for the space. I still don't have it all quite figured out. For now it works for us. I have a large oversized "Mom" calendar as I like to call it, which allows me to write all the important dates and events and can be seen by all. Between school, work, extracurricular activities and doctor's visits I needed a large calendar. Though it's not aesthetically pleasing to the eye it serves it's purpose. One day I hope to replace it with a large whiteboard calendar but I have yet to find one I like that will work for the space. 

With the cabinet broken I needed to re-home all these items. I got a simple spice rack from Ikea and painted it in corresponding colours to my Kitchen and hung it below the calendar. It houses pens, business and appointment cards, and anything we need on a regular basis.

I took 2 wall file folder holders and spruced them up a bit with some paint and burlap chalk labels I found at the dollar store. For now it meets our needs, and there is enough space to add more if later required.

We took 3 more spice racks and I painted them with white trim paint. They house my cook books which were also haphazardly laying around before. Now they are nicely on display and easily at reach when needed. 

I made a chore chart out of a clipboard using chalk paint and clothes pins. It can really hang anywhere in the kitchen. I plan on using the second clip board as my menu board until my youngest has a chore list of his own. (Also I haven't found the menu board I want)

I think it will always be a work in progress as over time our needs will change, but now it's functional and has kept the mess off my table.There are some beautiful command centers on Pinterest, that if I had more space I would have loved to have done.  

What are some of your space saving hacks. I'd love to here them. 

~Mommy Dearest