I’m a mama of three. As my kids are getting older I’m realizing how important it is to stay organized. My kids are all into sports and activities now. It seems like every day of the week there is some sort of practice or game or school activity happening in addition to all the chores and responsibilities we have around the house.
One of the first things I put together when we moved in to this house (4.5 years ago) was our family command center. It’s a small wall in the kitchen that had a wipe board for our weekly calendar and our cute little chore charts I put together (even though all of my kids were really too little to contribute to the load of chores). The space was cute and useful, but I had no idea how necessary it would quickly become.
Lately, I felt like I was barely keeping my head above water with everything that’s happening. Balls were getting dropped (and not just on the baseball field) and the household tasks were falling behind. I knew it was time to give our command center a face lift and refresh. It was time to get down to business and get this family functioning again!
I started by taking everything off of the wall (the old calendars, etc) and patched any areas that were destroyed by the previous hangings. I also chose to paint the space white to have a fresh, clean slate.
Of course, the creative in me started with the aesthetic design. How was I going to make this space stand out and look pretty, lol? I’ve had plans to do a Sharpie wall design in our 1/2 bath and I thought, why not try it out here first? I sketched a few designs on paper and finally settled on the final plan. I wanted it to look like a freehand design, but I also have anxiety and I was terrified to just start drawing with permanent marker on my wall without a basic sketch! So, I measured out and pencil sketched the vertical lines and sketched a few of the ^ shapes to give myself a starting point.
I used the thicker, chisel tip Sharpies to create a thicker, bolder line.
And then, I just went for it. I was instantly thankful I sketched the vertical lines so that the final lines were somewhat evenly spaced and level! Overall, it was incredibly simple and only took about an hour to draw the entire design.
Once the Sharpie design was done, we added a strip of trim board to the top to define the space. We simply cut it to size, painted it with oil based paint to match the rest of our trim and used a nail gun to install it on the wall.
Now, it’s finally time to get to the organization part! I knew there were certain elements I needed in this space:
- A monthly calendar
- A to-do list
- A weekly calendar
- Our Chore charts
For the monthly calendar I found this giant wipe board at Hobby Lobby! Organizationally, it was perfect (and 40% off, of course), but aesthetically it wasn’t quite my style. It was a little too country chic and I’m going for a little more clean modern. Nothing a little paint couldn’t fix!
We’ve always had a weekly calendar. It’s a place to really highlight what we need to focus on this week and what I use to plan meals. I found this chalkboard at Hobby Lobby, as well.
Then, I took these 1.75in wooden letters and used craft glue to attach them to the chalkboard to create a permanent weekly calendar.
Yes, I start my weeks on Monday. I like having Saturday and Sunday together so I can easily look and see everything that’s happening this weekend.
Don’t forget to always “season” your chalkboards before use. All that means is use the side of the chalk and rub it all over the board. Let it sit for a few minutes and then use a felt eraser or dry cloth to wipe it off. This will make your board easier to use and clean.
Moving on the the chore charts! Like I said, we’ve used chore charts since we moved into this house 4.5 years ago (when my kids were 5, 4 and 6 months!). It makes chores a little more fun for the kids. They have different assignments each day and then earn tickets for completing everything. Tickets can be saved and redeemed for prizes ranging from a treasure box dollar store toy, to extra screen time to an ice cream date with mom or dad.
Since my kids are older now (9, 8 and almost 5, in case you didn’t want to do the math) I thought it was time to up the ante. It’s time to allow them some more responsibility and give them a wider variety of chores. I found these adorable chore coins on Amazon. There’s 60 different chores in here (including ‘give mom or dad a back rub,’ lol!). The coins are wooden and, thus, wouldn’t work with our magnetic chore chart system so I simply took some adhesive magnet tape and cut it into tiny pieces to attach to each coin. I’m holding them in this cute little IKEA container on the wall above the chore boards.
Our chore boards are magnetic chalkboard panels I found at Walmart all those years ago. I just used paint pen to write each child’s name and to create their to do/done chart.
I’ve shown you all the parts and pieces so now, do you want to see it all put together?! Here she is! Isn’t she pretty?!
I love a fresh, clean space! Everyone is super pumped to track things on the calendar and learn some new chores and responsibilities! I think I’ll slowly add new chores to the mix over time so, tell me, what are YOUR kids’ favorite chores?
Courtney MaCaire 