Chic on a Shoestring Decorating: How to Organize a Command Station (Junk Cabinet)


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How to Organize a Command Station (Junk Cabinet)

Happy weekend, friends!  Welcome to another post in my organization and decluttering series:


When we moved to our current home I was excited to have extra cabinet space and room for a little command center.  We didn't have this luxury at our old house so we had to keep much of this stuff in our office which was upstairs.  Imagine having to walk all the way upstairs to get the camera.... oh, the agony! 

Having never had a commands station before I had no idea how it should be organized.  My method was "stick it where it fits".  I'm sure you'll notice in the picture what a great job I did.  NOT.

Please do not judge.
Notice that I made this picture pretty small because I'm totally embarassed! as to not burn your eyes out with the hot mess.  The cabinet became a catch-all because it was never properly organized. 

You also may notice there are a few good ideas in here.  No, seriously.  The back of one cabinet door has a dry erase board on it and the other has a bulletin board.  There are also two little open face containers on the bottom left for things men people lose, like car keys.  One for me, one for Mr. Chic.  I'd like to take credit for these smart ideas but these are all  Mr. Chic's bright ideas.  That man shoulda been a professional organizer I tell ya.

I started trying to organize this cabinet 2 years ago which is when that scary picture was taken.  It got a little bit better but never good enough to share.  I think I've finally figured it out after a lot of trial and error. 

I took everything out of the cabinets and purged.  Everything that had no business in the kitchen went away.  Lots of junk went in the garbage.  This helped a ton but I still needed something to organize the stuff that was staying. 

I went to the dollar store and picked up some square little baskets.  They are not the cutest but hey, the price was right.  I used some leftover ribbon and tags from a previous project to make labels. 




 The baskets have helped tremendously because everything has a spot.  We keep usb cords, label makers, coupons, etc. all in their own basket. 

The open face blue bins are also from the dollar store.  We have his and her baskets which works wonderfully.  They allow easy access for things like car keys, phones, business cards, etc.



Mr. Chic bought an appropriately sized bulletin board and dry erase board that fit on the back of the cabinet doors just right.  He attached them using short screws to the thickest frame part of the cabinet door.  Make SURE you use short screws or you will drill through the front of your cabinet door.




We keep some important info on here all the time, emergeny info mainly for babysitters.  We also use it for a weekly grocery list, phone messages and notes on the lower half.

 

He used the same method for the bulletin board.  I hang the school lunch menu,  a paper calendar (this one happens to be haaauuuuge but it was free and it's of Ireland which I heart) and other important stuff here.  It keeps the fridge from being covered in magnets with random papers. 

The final project turned out like this:


The bottom right has a little paper filing holder for incoming and outgoing mail, stamps and envelopes.  Also, a cozee full of dry erase markers and permanent markers (out of reach of the kiddos) and my day planner.  The books on the top left are all cookbooks that we use which is why there are books in the kitchen. 

Those dollar store baskets made for a big improvement!  It's not perfect but it's working for us.

What are your secrets for command station organization??

Check out the rest of my organizational posts here:
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Linking: Someday Crafts

7 comments :

  1. That looks great. I need to organize my kitchen cabinets, but I can't stand how they look. I avoid the kitchen as much as I can!

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  2. This looks great! I think sometimes you need time to determine what works in a particular situation. You did a great job.

    - The Tablescaper

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  3. Yay for improvement, and yay for a place to keep all of that stuff! Love the dollar store for organizational stuff.

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  4. No need to be embarassed....we've all got a hot mess here and there. ;) Your series has really motivated me in my kitchen. I have decluttered my junk drawer, baking drawers, spice cupboard, pantry and today I even cleaned out the fridge and added a plastic bin to the veggie drawer. I never would've guessed that tidying up and organizing would make me feel so good!! I'm loving it. :)

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  5. I love the idea of a command center and you can't beat a $1 for the baskets. I have so many areas to declutter and organize, this is the perfect place to start. Thanks for the motivation.

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  6. Motivated to start purging and organizing!
    Thank you!

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