A DIY Command Center for Small Spaces

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Have I mentioned that our 1980s colonial doesn’t have a mud room? Or any space, really, to create a drop zone or command center for all the items our family uses every single day?

If you are fortunate enough to live in a home with a mud room, or had enough space to create your own makeshift drop zone, I’m envious. I love our home, but the fact that we have no place except our garage to store any of the items mentioned above drives me absolutely bonkers. It also means that I am always to corral ALL the kid things in our home so that we don’t live in a constant state of clutter.

Spoiler alert: It sucks.

So I decided to create my own command center with the space I do have. I think you’ll agree it’s a pretty decent solution for those of us sans mud room who have verrrrrrry few spaces in our home that have ample square footage to make a great storage spot.

In this case, I decided to use a sliver of our wall — which is about 24 inches wide and serves as a buffer between our kitchen and dining room — to create a command center.

Here’s a quick pseudo “before” photo of the wall space. (And I say it’s a pseudo “before” pic since I technically forgot to take a “before” photo — whoops — and snapped this one after I had already installed the wire file hanger.)

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My main goal was to have a spot to capture all the paper that enters our home on a daily basis, and the secondary goal was to offer a spot to hang a bag or two. Unfortunately, the space isn’t large enough to store the kids’ backpacks or jackets. However, it WAS a perfect area to hold the daily snack bag (yes, we have a designated “snack bag” that I leave in my car so that the kids have something to eat on the ride home from school) and my daughter’s dance tote.

So here’s what I purchased for our command center:

• Wall-mounted wire file holder
• Bulletin board (which I spruced up with some paint — more on that shortly)
• Wall hook for holding a bag or two
• Magical painting supplies, also known as this brush set
• Assorted acrylic paints from brands such as DecoArt, FolkArt, and Devine Color

The installation of the wire file holder and wall hook is pretty self-explanatory. But here’s what I did to add a little personality to the bulletin board:

First, I painted the frame. Because friends don’t let friends have boring beige bulletin boards, right?!

I initially chose a more subdued shade of blue for the frame — this paint from Target, to be exact — and then about halfway through my paint job, I decided I needed something more bold. So I selected a pretty cobalt color from DecoArt that I found at Michael’s. (Pro tip: Instead of using painter’s tape to protect the cork portion of the board, you can slide plain ol’ printer paper under the wood frame so that your paint doesn’t bleed onto the cork.Be sure to remove the paper before the paint has dried.)

Once the frame was painted, I used one of the brushes from my craft brush kit to make polka dots on the bulletin board. It worked perfectly!

And here’s our finished command center:

Not bad for $50 and the smallest portion of wall ever, huh? I’m just so happy that my kitchen counter will now have a shot at not being covered in art projects 24/7. #winning

What do you think? Are you lucky enough to have a spacious mud room, or would a small space solution like this work in your home?

P.S. – Did you find this post helpful? I’d LOVE it so much if you’d pin it. Thanks!

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