UHeart Organizing: Taking Command of the School Year

Command center addicts, this post is for you! And for me! Do they have support groups for people like us? I mean seriously, no matter which way you slice 'em, command centers make the organizational world go round.

And what better time to put together your own command center, than back-to-school time? Once kids become school aged, it is homework, lessons, parties, events.... so much to manage and remember. Command centers are really wonderful for keeping life in a single family "hot spot".

The best part is that there is no right or wrong way to create a family command center zone. They can be customized to fit in just about any space and for any style preference. The incredibly talented Jennifer from The House of Wood blog, is here today to share how she built a menu board, calendar and wall pockets to create the ultimate organized zone. She is sure to take command of the school year with her new wall-of-awesomeness!

Hi friends! Welp. It's almost that time again. Are you getting ready to do the Back-To-School scramble? Before you know it, you'll be drowning in book reports, school projects and extra-curricular activities, and there will be no rest for the weary. For all you Type A personalities, it's GO TIME!

I've been meaning to set up a family command center for awhile, but now that our firstborn will be entering Kindergarten (*sob*), this task just moved to the top of my priority list. BTW... do they write book reports in Kindergarten? #newbie

While I doubt my little Kindergartner will have much homework to bring home, I love having a dedicated space where she'll be able to have an after-school snack as she tackles school projects when the time comes. Here's how our family command center turned out:

It puts the 'fun' in 'functional,' doesn't it? The chalkboards, cubby shelf, and time zone clocks are all DIY projects that are super easy and inexpensive to do!

To make the chalkboards, I purchased half a sheet (48"x48") of underlayment from the home improvement store. I knew I wanted to make a separate calendar and menu board, so I sent the underlayment through my table saw and cut it into two pieces. Then I rolled on a few coats of chalkboard paint. Don't you just love this navy color? I had it tinted at the paint desk but sadly, after the paint dried, it turned out looking more black than navy. Womp womp.

Oh, and here's a quick tip: if you line the paint tray with aluminum foil, cleanup will be quick and easy. Just roll up the foil when you're done and toss it!

To frame out the chalkboard, I set my miter saw to a 45º angle and crosscut the trim. To get the most precise measurements, I recommend skipping the tape measure and just holding the trim in place, marking it with a pencil, and cutting it to fit.

Then I squeezed some wood glue onto the back of the trim and placed it onto the chalkboard. I used clamps to hold the frame in place while the glue dried. No need for nails or screws here; the glue will be plenty strong to keep that trim on.

Next, I used a Sharpie paint pen to draw the lines for the calendar, using a yardstick as a straight edge. An oil-based paint pen works best because it's permanent and won't wipe away so I won't have to re-draw the calendar every month.

Here’s my calendar grid all drawn out:

I used my Silhouette Cameo to make vinyl decals for the days of the week. I also like to sharpen my chalk with a pencil sharpener to make it easier to write with. It's the little things, right?

Finally, I used a French cleat to hang the chalkboard up on the wall. With a calendar this large, you'd think my husband would know when my parents are coming to town.

Aren't those time zone clocks fun? The tutorial for that can be found here.

The hardest part about cooking is figuring out what to cook - amiright? This menu board makes it simple to create weekly meal plans, stay organized, and just say NO to takeout!

I am in love with this adorable #nomnomnom decal. I made it with my Silhouette Cameo - the font is called 'Imperfect.'

We store mail and other miscellaneous paperwork in this DIY wall cubby. I built it out of scrap wood (read: FREE!) and posted the plans and tutorial here on my blog. It's a quick and easy project that requires minimal power tools so if you’d like to get into building, it would be the perfect piece to start with.

Isn't this striped metal tote oh so stylish? I snagged it at Target (#happyplace!) and loaded it up with school supplies. Am I the only one who gets giddy about buying school supplies? Oh, don't mind me, I'm just hangin' out in the back-to-school section smelling the erasers. #creeper

Then I stash the whole kit and caboodle in a pretty basket and tuck it all away neatly.

So are you ready for the Back-To-School scramble? Do you have a command center that keeps your family organized?

______________________

Hello friends! I’m Jen Woodhouse, the author of The House of Wood blog, my creative outlet for all things DIY and design. By trade, I am a performing songwriter based in Nashville, TN - I’ve released three albums, toured the world, and licensed my music to national television shows and films - but more recently, I've added ‘DIY Blogger’ to my eclectic resume. The House of Wood is where I document my adventures in woodworking, interior design, and life as a musician, military wife, and mother of two unbearably adorable babies. When I’m not writing, recording, or touring, you’ll usually find me in the garage building furniture! I’m pretty freakin’ excited to join the iHeart Organizing team and I can’t wait to share a few organizing DIY projects with y’all!

10 things to do now to get organized for back to school!

It’s that time friends!  July is winding down and August is right around the corner.  Are you cheering or crying!?  I always have mixed emotions about school starting again.  Ready to regain some structure and productivity to my days, but not excited about homework, packing lunches and always being on the go!  This summer has […]

The post 10 things to do now to get organized for back to school! appeared first on The Sunny Side Up Blog.

Adult Coloring…Who’s In?

I’m sure by now you’ve heard the latest trend.

It’s turned the chunky crayons and simple pages into something more sophisticated.

Oh yes, I’m talking about adult coloring books.

Usually when I tell people I have adult coloring books, I get one of two reactions:

“Me, too!!!”

or

“What? Is that like porn??”

For those that haven’t heard of it, once I explain, they typically want to try it. That’s how it happened for me.

I consider myself a “realistic” color-er, as in, leaves are green and bark is brown. The first piece I colored was what I thought was a yak. I don’t know if it actually is, but I was inspired by the pre-existing background shade.

I’ve been working on this Owl and Tree piece for months, learning to be more creative with my shading:

But recently I started finding images online of some coloring pages that were colored in a more interesting way, so I started experimenting.

Like this one I’m still working on, done in only shades of green and blue:

And this one, which I dubbed “Taste the Rainbow”:

I really love it when a hobby evolves and takes you outside of your comfort zone. It seems silly, but coloring things “unnatural” colors was kind of freeing. I’m like a total rebel. Don’t mess with me and my pencils.

Are any of you into coloring? What do you use to color? Pens? Pencils? Do you have a favorite brand? What books do you have?

I have Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest (just acquired) by Johanna Basford as well as the Art Therapy book from Posh. I think it will be years before I make a dent in these. Apparently I’m a fan of complete time suck hobbies like knitting and coloring. Basically I’ll do anything that lets me binge watch TV for hours on end. #truth

Organizing Under the Kitchen Sink

I have no idea how it happened, but this past week was one of those blink-and-it-is-over type of weeks. All of the sudden it was Friday morning and I was hit with the realization that I hadn't organized one single thing all week. The horror right?

As far as our kitchen goes, the good news is that we have begun installing trim, toe kick and moulding! I am hoping to have a full kitchen update for y'all very soon; we definitely needed to step back and take a small break to troubleshoot a few issues that have come up as we near the end of the renovation. One problem is in regards to a major appliance/kitchen island snafu... We also have some cabinet moulding decisions to make and the Mr. and I are not seeing eye-to-eye. We appreciate you hanging in there as we work through some of those detailed decisions that we just don't feel comfortable rushing.

This week when I took a look at my giant Home To-Do List, I picked something that I knew I could accomplish quickly, something that would keep me excited about the kitchen, and something that would help us out during our day-to-day routine. I decided to tackle the cabinet under the kitchen sink.

Although our kitchen was far from finished, we needed to reclaim our guest room a few months back. All of our kitchen belongings that were temporarily being stored in the guest room, were brought back out to the kitchen and the boxes were unloaded in a single evening. When we came up with our initial cabinet design, I made sure to assign every last pot, pan, appliance and gadget a home. This made quickly unpacking our items fairly painless, however, nothing more was ever done. Many of the cabinets have since been in a state of chaos and waiting for that special touch, under the kitchen sink included.

Majority of the items under the sink are things we use to clean our entire main level. There were also a few items that were brought up from our cleaning cabinet for a single use and then tossed below the sink instead of being returned to the proper home. Paper bags were acting as our recycling bin, and things were always getting lost in the back of the cabinet. It was time for a little organizing action.

Step one, empty it out!

My initial impulse was to reach for some shelf liner I had on hand...

But the pattern was a little busy and the lack of color left me looking for a different option.

I found some gift wrap (purchased from HomeGoods) and knew it was more more fitting for my love of color happy organizing. I also knew that once things were placed back into the cabinet, that the boldness of the paper would simmer down a bit.

To ensure the gift wrap would be easy-to-clean and hold up to heavy daily traffic, I covered it in clear contact paper. Read more about this process here.

As I was emptying out the cabinet, I jotted down a list of everything that I needed to store, as well as the ideal way to do so. One thing I realized right away is that I wasn't taking advantage of the cabinet doors. Also, I have been wanting to find a second caddy to corral cleaning items as I have been enjoying keeping house chore supplies on both levels of our home. The entire cabinet needed to be purged down, items needed a specific home, and a few labels would be useful in keeping the entire family on the same page.

I began by addressing the items we utilize daily to clean the counters and wash our dishes; we use a combination of dish cloths, scrubbers and sponges. Because these items become wet during use, they needed to be stored in a location that would allow them to dry, without damaging the interior of the cabinet.

I found an acrylic spice rack at The Container Store, and thought I would give it a try. It ended up being the perfect solution because it is easy to clean and extremely light weight. I was able to use a couple heavy duty clear Command Strips to hang the organizer on the inside of the door, and now our daily tools are always within arm's reach, yet keep the sink area clutter free (and I can think of 1,589 other places I would love to add these charming little gems).

I also appreciate that the spice rack pairs beautifully with the clear stacking drawers we had used in our previous kitchen setup.

I removed the jumbled mess of cleaning rags from the drawers, and washed/re-folded all of our dish cloths and towels. I also added some vinyl labels to the faces of the drawers to keep things orderly down the road.

On top of the drawers I added our wet-sack to hold our dirty/damp used rags that are waiting for wash day.

HomeGoods came through for me in my quest for a second caddy to corral our daily cleaning supplies.

The caddy is large enough to hold a variety of items; everything from our hand sweeper and dusters to rags and cleaners.

When selecting items to use for storage and organization, the number one requirement was that they had to be easy to keep clean/wipe down. I also tried to select items that would be versatile should our needs for the cabinet ever change (which I really don't see happening in this case). A simple clear tray holds our extra soaps for the dishwasher, sink and fruits/vegetables.

Our pull-out recycle bin didn't fit in our new cabinet because the new sink is fantastically larger and deeper. I searched high and low for an alternative pull-out trash option but came up short. It is totally worth it to have the deeper sinks though, so I just stayed with a very basic bin that also received some vinyl labeling love.

I put the other cabinet door to work holding our paper towel roll and dish-washing gloves.

The paper towel holder is extremely light, and was also attached to the cabinet with a Command Strip. I am not ready to screw holes into our new cabinet doors just yet, not even for the sake of organization. And although I didn't end up storing our food wrap boxes inside the cabinet doors for long, I did want to re-use the dowel and hooks for my dish-washing gloves. I just wrapped the dowel in some vinyl to protect the wood from wetness.

And suddenly I had myself the happiest cabinet in our kitchen!

No organization project is complete without a before and after to celebrate:

And a quick recap of our under-the-kitchen-sink essentials:

Aside from a little product sourcing/shopping, the entire project took about an hour (planning, cleaning, lining, organizing, Command hooking, labeling and admiring). Not bad for one of the busiest cabinets in the entire kitchen.

Now that I am feeling accomplished again, I can get back to fun in the sun with the kiddos. I mean, back to installing trim and moulding.... sigh...

Friday Favorites – a shopping trip to World Market!

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope you all had a good week.  So excited about my Friday Favorites post today!  I decided to take you all shopping with me.  Fun, right?  Do you like to shop?  I love to shop.  I’m a good shopper.  My husband loves this about me. One of the last three sentences […]

The post Friday Favorites – a shopping trip to World Market! appeared first on The Sunny Side Up Blog.

our bh&g refresh magazine article

Since the new issue of Better Homes and Gardens Refresh Magazine just hit stands, I figured it would be okay to share our entire article from the Summer issue with you all here on the blog. It still blows my mind that our fifth house was featured in a magazine! Hands down this was one of the biggest pinch me moments I've experienced since starting this little blog. It was an amazing experience getting to see what goes on behind the scenes of a magazine shoot from seeing a professional stylist work her magic to marveling at the photography equipment, and what was even more special was reading the article Sarah Egge wrote as she truly captured the essence of what this blog is all about. This isn't a blog about "how to decorate"; I don't claim to be expert. This blog is about inspiring you to find your style.....your own inner style freak flag......and encouraging you to fly it as high as possible. All in all it was such a joy to see it in glossy print, and without a doubt it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for all of you amazing, encouraging readers! From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for coming along the journey........for the comments, the emails......each word you've shared with me over the years has been treasured......and I very much appreciate your kindness and your encouragement!

Since as you know we recently sold our fifth house and will be starting a new house adventure (house number 6) in Charleston, SC in a few short days, sharing this article here feels even more special. It's the perfect end to an amazing five year journey. And I look forward to the beginning of a new one!

Guess I shouldn't have made any promises. ;)

And now, on to new house adventures!

Cheers to the weekend friends!