Creating a Command Center: The Final Reveal

Bit by bit, I've shared my process of creating a command center in our home. Today is the day for the big reveal of the entire project all put together. Well, mostly all put together. 

Let’s start at the beginning. 

If I had to describe this space in two words, I’d use majorly under-utilized. Is that three words? Either way, this command center project had three purposes.

First, it is an effort to thwart my own laziness. This space has become an easy dumping ground for items that either have no real home or items I’m just too lazy to return to their real homes. So task one, end homelessness.

Second, this project is an effort to purge unnecessary items. We have two of every office supply you can imagine: two computers, two staplers, two desk organizers, two desks, two rulers, etc. We’re kind of like the double mint twins, only less refreshing. 

And last, I wanted to relieve the brown oppression going on in our abode. I love our house, but there is so much brown! I’m craving color and this was a great spot to bring some in.

Project 1 was moving our active files from a tippy, cramped plastic filing cabinet into one of the built-in drawers in the command center. Now, they are easily accessible and conveniently located. 

Next, I consolidated our wealth of office supplies into a manageable collection and repurposed “junk” drawers into organized office supply drawers. I also added two large baskets to hold legal pads, note book paper, and other larger accessories that wouldn’t fit in the drawers.

I made a dry-erase calendar so we could keep track of ourselves.

I updated another dumping ground device, our mail organizer, into a functional system to keep us from becoming buried in paper. After that post, I ended up changing the labels to a different color because, while the red looked great on the black organizer, it didn’t really match the overall color scheme of the command center. They are now blue!

In an effort to conceal our apparent wine addiction and, more importantly, to curtail the number of random slips of paper floating around, I put together a DIY cork board for free!

I purged and hung our writing utensils so they are readily available whenever we need them. I also wanted to keep the Mister aware of how many pens we had so he’d stop bringing them home from work and other various places. So far, it’s been successful!

Finally, I added some much needed color. My intention was to use liquid starch to transform the fabric into temporary wall paper but because the fabric was so think and my patience was so thin, I ended up pinning the fabric into the wood using a few small straight pins and then hot gluing ribbon onto the edges of the fabric to conceal the pins and cut edges. This way, if I get sick of the fabric or want to change it up, I just have to remove a few pins to take it down.

I still want a new-to-us chair that is a bit more comfy and brings in more color. I want to purge our two desktop computers and two desks located in the spare bedroom and purchase one laptop to use in the command center space. I also want to address the cabinets above the desk and the shelves next to the desk. But all of those wants must wait.

For now, this space is commanding me to throw off my laziness and get to work on other things!