Family Command Center in a Closet

I’ve been drowning in papers. It’s only been about 6 weeks into the school year and I swear the school system has sent home a forest worth of papers already… ok, maybe not a full forest, but a lot!

With four kiddos ranging from a senior in highschool to a 1st grader, our lives are crazy busy… and messy… and cluttered… and unorganized.

Something had to be done to tame the papers because this mama was about to go a bit whack-a-doo!  I needed to Create a Family Command Center, and I knew the perfect spot… my closet pantry!

This lovely fridge has been the epicenter for my um, organization. Pathetic I know. I won’t even show you what the counter next to it looks like, it’s too embarrassing.

I’m a certified “Piler”. I tend to put things in piles. Eventually though, there are more piles then room on the counter and it’s become ridiculous.

I was so inspired by my friend Traci’s Giant Family Command Center, (she has kids too), that I knew I could do something in my home that could work for us. And because our kitchen is the main hub of the house, it had to be here, but hidden. Thank goodness for our pantry. If you don’t have a pantry, this could work in most closets also.

First things first was to add a bit of color to the inside of my pantry. I painted the inside of the doors with a custom color I mixed up. It’s the same color as on my front door. (Click here to see it.) Painting is fast and easywhen you use some ScotchBlue© Tape. 

While the paint dried and ran up to the office supply store and bought 4 clear wall pocket bins, one for each child. And then I chose 4 different pieces of black and white scrap paper to decorate the clear bins with. Each print describes each of my children’s personalities. What was fun was that they all instantly knew which paper was theirs!

The bins were attached to the inside of the pantry doors with just 2 simple screws. It was very easy to install.

And now each kiddo has their own bin. All of their papers, things I need to sign or look at, schedules, invitations, etc. is stored in their separate bins.

But the best thing of all is that I now have a clean fridge, there are no longer piles of papers laying everywhere and getting lost in the shuffle and it is all hidden inside the pantry!

It’s like a new day in this house! I’m not a naturally organized person, but gosh, this organizational stuff is nice! My house actually looks a bit cleaner! Who knew?

Now if only I could find someone to help them with all that homework…… 😉

Kim

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