Fav Five: Command Centers

Hello everyone!  So as you may have noticed, I took a small break from posting last week.  Life has just been crazy with working and school, and I just needed a tiny time out.  It was nice having one less thing to worry about getting done, but I am back and ready to get blogging again!  I'm starting the week as I normally do here on LMO with a Fav Five post.  Today is focusing on all the amazing command centers found around blogland.

Command centers are a great way to keep your whole family organized and functional.  They can include any number of systems, but most have a combination of calendars, mail drop spots and a place to drop things as they come in the door (coats/keys/bags).  I'm actually currently working on vamping up my command center situation, so I'm loving all the ideas and inspiration I got from these five amazing spaces.

source

I love that Cassie made her command enter is a previously overlooked little corner of a room.  Before she worked her magic on it, this corner was empty and had to real purpose.  After, she made an organized and adorable command center to help maintain order in her family's life.  I love that this proves you don't need a huge amount of space to create a highly functional command center.

source

This command center literally made my jaw drop.  This beauty has it all.  Let's start with the awesomely huge magnetic board.  What a perfect place to store coupons, so you don't forget to grab them on your way to the store?  It's also the perfect spot to jot down reminders where everyone in the house will see them.  And what about those great storage bins?  Perfect for incoming and out going mail, or for holding small odds and ends like keys and cell phones.  Finally that frame collage on the left.  Keep the organizational magic going by framing calendars and a meal planning template, while also adding in some cute decor with printable quotes.  This may be my absolute ideal command center, and may or may not be considering making over parts of my magnetic spice board to include some of this organizational eye candy.

source

The fun colors really got me with this command center.  What a happy little space, right?  Who wouldn't naturally gravitate over there throughout the day, just to put a smile on your face.  The space again does an awesome job of incorporating some fun decor into the command center.  And I see another appearance of IKEA's Kvissle magazine rack, something I have been drooling over for quite some time.

source

This next command center is contained in one gigantic chalkboard!  It has not one, not two but three monthly calendars to help with planning.  There's also a white board added in for jotting down family to-dos.  And each person or kid in the family gets their own clipboard mounted to the wall for storing important papers.  And to polish the whole system off, the entire chalkboard is framed out with a simple white wood frame.  Love.

source

The shining star of this command center are the two large framed calendars.  I've seen this idea before, and always loved it, but never given it a try before.  If you frame a calendar, or a daily to-do list, you can write on the glass with a dry erase marker, then erase it when you need to start over.  I've considered using this tactic somewhere in my home, but haven't settled on the perfect use for it yet.  It'll come to me :).

So that's it for this week's Fav Five!  Which one was your favorite?  What do you find essential for organizing your home?  Share your command center in the comments so we can all see more wonderful examples of organization!