Home Decor Projects Observer

Our simple command center gallery wall will help organize all of the paperwork that is sure to enter our house with back-to-school time just around the corner! It is so much easier to keep the house organized when there are smart systems in place!

Last week I talked about the plans we have for organizing our mudroom just in time for back-to-school, and I am so thrilled with the progress we have made so far! One thing I was determined to put in place before school began was a command center that could act as a sort of “home base” for allllllllll of the many papers and notices and reminders that the boys bring home with them. Up until this point, these types of papers tended to clutter up our dining room table or land in our kitchen “junk drawer,” and I knew there had to be a better solution for them!

I had a small area in our mudroom right beside our coat closet that I thought would be the perfect spot to house a little command center, so I set out to create a space that would meet all of our needs.

A huge thanks to IKEA for sponsoring this post! My favorable opinion of beautiful and functional items that make my life easier is 100% my own. � For more information, see my disclosures here.

Before I could put anything on the walls, I knew I wanted to give the room a quick coat of paint. I painted over the dingy white color that our builder had chosen with a beautiful gray (mixed at half strength), and while I was at it, I painted both the door to the garage and the door to the coat closet a greenish aqua color— already the room felt like it had gotten a little refresh!

Supplies

Next it was time to create my command center! This command center is simple and beautiful and would be really easy to duplicate in your own home. Here is a list of the items I used to create it:

Creating the Command Center

I took the measurements of my wall and actually planned out my pieces on graph paper first. I wanted items that fit well on the wall and looked good together, of course, but it was more important that the pieces solve a few organizational problems we were having when it came to the boys’ school paperwork.

The first thing I looked for was something to act as a little in/out box for both of the boys. We try to deal with most of their paperwork as soon as it comes home, but occasionally there are things like fundraiser forms or homework packets that need to stick around at our house for a little while, so we needed a place to put those types of things.

I recently discovered SKADIS, IKEA’s cute pegboard collection, and I knew it would be the perfect solution to my problem. I grabbed this vertical board along with two simple letter holders and hung them on the wall. I then put a cute (yet not too girly � ) folder in each letter holder and used my label maker to put Connor’s name on one folder and Caleb’s name on the other. In/out boxes completed!

Since I tend to be a bit scatterbrained (oops!) another “must have” for our command center was a place to post reminders, things like party invitations, schedules for the boys’ special classes, things they need to take in to school on a certain day, etc. We leave the house through the mudroom most often, so this board would let us see any reminders right before we walk out the door so we don’t forget anything.

This photo of the boys was taken years ago, but it is still one of my favorites! Connor has always been Caleb’s protector! �

The SKURAR magnetic board from IKEA ended up being just the right size for our command center AND it was pretty too, so I snatched one up and added it to the wall! While I was at it I hung the PANORERA wall clock so we can always make sure we’re leaving the house on time, and then I had a few small spots left over to add some decorative elements!

I chose this RIBBA frame to fill in the gap between the clock and the magnetic board and simply filled it with a pretty piece of scrapbook paper. For the final little spot in my gallery wall, I grabbed two 6″ x 6″ canvases from the craft store, painted them aqua, and then used my cutting machine to make cute designs for them out of vinyl.

It took almost two years (Eeek!) of living in this house, but I think I finally fixed the little snag in our school paperwork workflow, and I am excited to be more organized heading into this next school year! It’s amazing how a few simple systems can really make our house run so much more smoothly!

I feel like I should mention that we don’t normally keep a step stool in front of our door, but it did look cute while it lasted! �

We’ve also been working on improving the organization systems in our mudroom coat closet before school starts, and I will be back later this week to show you that, so stay tuned!

Do you have a command center in your house? What elements do you include to help you stay organized? Tell me about them in the comments below!

Have a great day!

A huge thanks to IKEA for sponsoring this post! My favorable opinion of beautiful and functional items that make my life easier is 100% my own. � For more information, see my disclosures here.

I am a Brand Ambassadör for IKEA U.S. This is a sponsored post.