DIY Kitchen Command Center Reveal {Repurpose with a Purpose!}

#organize #kitchencommandcenter #familyclutter #declutter #upcycle #repurpose #diy #organizationtips

I've been talking and showing sneak peaks, on my Facebook and Instagram pages, of a Kitchen Command Center I have been working on lately. And today is the big reveal! Eek! I'm so excited about the way it turned out and the practicality of it all!

I've been working on going through each room in my house this year, and organizing them. We have five kiddos in our family and it seems the paperwork and calendaring never ends. BUT, how do you keep track of it all? My kids used to bring me paperwork home from school (that would need to be returned or notices about soccer sign ups coming up, etc.) that I knew we needed to keep and stay on top of, but they would end up in a pile on the computer desk. I would then find myself forgetting about them OR frantically searching for them the morning we needed them. Not so fun. 

So, I set about creating a Kitchen Command Center, because in our house, this was the best place for this. It's visible, we're all in the kitchen daily, and I had one wall in our kitchen that would be perfect for it! You really don't even need that large of a space. As you can see from the pictures below, and the different angles of the pictures. it isn't a huge wall that I had to use. BUT, it is all in one place now and organized. So helpful!

We used two filing cabinets that we already had (nothing fancy at all...) and placed a teak wood bed headrest that we had kept from a past platform bed, over both file cabinets, leaving space between the two. (It was just too pretty not to keep, and I'm so glad we did!) It works as a perfect DIY (no nailing, building) repurposed desk for us. We put our desktop computer and printer on it and ONE file holder/box. 

In that file box, we keep a few folders. We have one for scrap paper for my kids to use, One for bills before I file them in the file cabinets. One file is tax information, and one medical.

Then I had my husband help me in building a shelf out of a 1x6 board that spans the length of the desk. It's the perfect spot to give a home to office supplies, like pens and pencils, tape, scissors, post its, rulers, staplers, crayons, markers, etc. It's easily available for the kids to use and also visible in the mason jars, making it easy to return everything to it's home. So it works great for the kids too! And it also seems to have encouraged more creating with my youngest two, which I love!

Of course I also had to add a little of my personal touches to the shelf too. Makes me smile each day as I sit and work from here. 

On the wall above the desk, I took the 6 clipboards that I painted and created last year, (You can find last year's Clipboard Craze post here when I made these.) and moved them to this wall.



We have one clipboard for each child. When they bring something home from school that we need to keep track of, they know to put it on their clipboard. So So So much easier to find the needed paperwork now! And it also provides a place for my preschoolers to display their beloved artwork. ;) And I love that this is all in the same place as other important calendering items.

I also added a menu board on this wall, which also includes the days that each child helps with meals and dishes. I just took a frame we already had on hand, put some kraft cardstock in the frame and some washi tape decoration, and then applied vinyl words to the front of the glass. I use chalkboard markers to write on it and they erase great!. It's working great! And I love having our meals planned weekly again.

Then I either print out my menu each week and just tape it on, or I use this little weekly planner paper from a notepad of it I got from a dollar store. Works great! 

This way I don't have to erase it each week. I just take down the old menu, and add the new one to the front of the menu board. 

The two last items that I added to the center of all the clipboards is the family calendar and a bulletin board. The calendar is essential and the central to everything else going on in this Kitchen Command Center. Again, having it all together on one wall works so well!

For the bulletin board, I just took some foamboard and covered it in fabric I had on hand and placed it in an open frame. So much more fun this way and again, practical. I can add fun quotes, pictures, scriptures we are memorizing as a family, or anything else I want!

It really didn't take a whole lot to create and organize this Kitchen Command Center, but it has already made a huge difference in our home. So there you have it! Kitchen organization. Check! Onto the next room.

What are some of your favorite and most useful organization tips? I'd love to hear more as I go through more rooms in my house.