When we moved into this new house, it took me a while before I decided on a place for our central family command center. Eventually, I decided on this wall in the dining room, right outside of the kitchen. I wanted to be able to answer the phone or an email and immediately look and see if we already have something planned for that day. The boys and their friends have also enjoyed using such a central location for all of their magnet fun.
Here’s what this corner looked like when we bought the house. You can see the corner we picked over in the top left.
And here’s what what we decided to do with it.
I’ll do a separate post later on where we keep our papers and mail (hint: we finally have an office now!!), but I first wanted to share our DIY command center, in case anyone else has limited funds and wants to imitate it.
First of all, the above chalkboard was something that I acquired at a thrift store around 6 years ago, so I obviously didn’t make that 🙂 I DID, however, paint it using Home Depot’s new line of chalk paints. I didn’t have to prep the surface at all, which is one of my favorite parts about chalk paint.
The magnet/wall calendar below, however, was something I put together from scratch. I used this 2×3 sheet of metal from Home Depot as the base. I then purchased a “chalkboard” peel and stick vinyl wall calendar from Amazon for around $12. Finally, I framed it using cheap hobby boards from Home Depot, cutting each of the corners at an angle with a handsaw (no fancy tools here…yet!). All in all, the project cost around $30, including the paint!
The alphabet letters are from the $ store and spray painted….so I don’t really care if they get lost or hurt because I can always get more!
There you have it! Our DIY command center.