A Client's New Command Center

Recently, I had a client who was in desperate need of a family command center. (If you've never heard that term, click here to read a blogpost I did about them. Every family needs a command center in their home!)

She has 3 daughters, and was on the right track with her set-up (pictured below). She had each girl's backpack hung at their height, and then she intended to put a picture into each frame to denote whose hook belonged to who. While I DO love that idea, she really needed a system to deal with all the paper coming into the house.....birthday invitations, dance schedules, notices about school, mail, etc.

 So, since this was the biggest wall in her entryway, we moved the backpacks over to an adjacent wall, and my client purchased a new piece of furniture to serve as the heart of our new command center. As a bonus, she found 4 canvas bins that fit perfectly inside! Each family member now has a bin to hold purses, gym bags, dance bags, or even soccer items. She let each girl pick out their own colored bin, AND write their name on their hanging chalkboard, giving each of them a bit of ownership in the whole process. (And hopefully this will make them more willing to actually put their things in the cubbies!)

Other notable aspects of the command center, from top to bottom:

-A dry erase calendar, where a different colored marker can denote each child's activities

-3 cork tiles (one for each girl) to hold invitations, important notices, etc.

-A wooden "D" on the wall; just a little personal touch for their family's last name

-3 letter trays: the top tray will have two folders for mail, one marked ACTION and one marked INFORMATION. The other two trays will be for the girls school notices, etc.

-A small tray will hold keys & sunglasses

-A letter organizer will transform into a charging station once the family loads up all their devices and gets a surge protector to fit all the cords :)

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While the command center is not 100% complete yet (they still need to add a family picture to the frame, as you can see!),  I still wanted to show it because I absolutely ADORE this space! Let's take one more look at the before & after, side-by-side:

I'm hopeful that having ONE central place for this busy family of 5 will help streamline the process of all the paper coming into their house. I know all too well how overwhelming that can be!