DIY Kitchen Command Center

It's week 3 of If Walls Could Dream's "New Years Resolution Guide to a Beautiful Home". Last Friday we redesigned the guest room.

This weekend... make a kitchen "command center"!

The kitchen should be the heart of the home, but many people find it lost under piles of junk mail and moldy leftovers. Now that your confidence is up from your successful completion of a quote wall and a guest room redesign, today is the perfect day to tackle the kitchen.


First, dissect that junk pile:

Your kids bringing home copious amounts of school work?

Make a gallery with frames and clips. A great tutorial can be found here. You simply nail the empty frame to the wall and glue a clip inside the frame.
Each child gets one frame. They get to choose what one thing they want to display. It's up to you if it goes in the archive or the recycling when they choose a new one, but the gallery will keep you from putting ALL the papers in the archive. If they don't think it's good enough to display, it isn't good enough to archive.



Your pile overflowing with junk mail?
Leave the recycling bin there. Don't let the junk mail even make it to the counter.

Were coupons, magazine clippings, and recipes the majority of the mess?
Time for a bulitin board! When your ideas are displayed, you're more likely to do them.


Now, add to your junk sollution to create a kitchen command center.
I found a great tutorial here. Simply hang up a dry-erase calendar, a grocery list, a place to hang spare keys, and a chalkboard for notes, reminders, and phone numbers. With all your information in one place, it's easier to stay organized.









Still end up eating out?
Make a Menu Planner (tutorial here) with seven clips and a bag of recipe cards glued to an old board or frame. By planning ahead you won't get caught by the everyones-hungry-and-nobody-wants-to-cook bug.