Organization...

Central Station

We all share the same problem of trying to keep our life, our kids, husbands, dogs, neighbors, fish, school, work, etc. organized and scheduled out to some degree.  Ok, that is a bit excessive, but you all know what I mean!  And if you don’t struggle with this, please come to my house and show me how to overcome this!  I need you like yesterday!  As a mom and wife we are always expected to be the Mom Extraordinaire…aka SUPER MOM!  We are expected to know when, where and how everything is projected to happen.  I can pretty much tell you exactly how everyone else’s life is planned to the second but I have no clue what I am doing from one moment to the next.  LOL!  My day changes based on everyone else’s needs/wants!  With that in mind, I have come up with my own “Central Station”. 

This is the keeper of all things related to our daily life’s…calendars, kids’ progress reports, school projects, dr. appointments, reminders, etc.  If it can have a push pin or a laundry clip attached to it…it can go on the Central Station board!

Each person has their own square to post in.  How cool is that!  Now I don’t have to worry about losing someone’s papers.  Woohoo!  Easy breezy stuff! 

So how did I do it you ask?  Well, it started with this.

The people that owned our house prior to us put these little frames into the kitchen window to hide the cross beams.  They looked really cool in there; however, I like to open my windows and I could not with these in place, so out they came.  Then that sat in my attic for 3 years just waiting to be used again.  I knew at some point I would find a use for them…and now I have!  While I LOVED the turquoise color, it did not go well in my kitchen so I decided to change it up a bit.

In came Annie Sloan’s Old White.  At first it was a bit to “white” for my liking so I sanded it to bring out some of the turquoise color and the wood grain.  Still to bright for me…so I rubbed on some of my favorite stain – Minwax Dark Walnut. 

Squeal!  LOVE IT!   I love that I still get to enjoy some of the turquoise color peeking through don't you?!

Then came adding the cork board to the back...but WAIT!  That just wasn't going to do it enough justice.  It needed MORE!  I had some chicken wire leftover from my jewelry display that I made.  You can find that here if you haven't already read about it :)  So I had Mr. AKM staple that to the back for me like so...

I'm swooning here!  Then came the cork board...I only added one sheet but I wish I would've double layered it for extra thickness. (Note to self...next time double layer cork board). Got that?  CHECK!

Once the chicken wire and cork board were added, it was time to put some sort of backing on it to support it all.  I was thinking of a 1/4" sheet of plywood but all we had was 3/4".  Since I was trying to avoid spending any extra money on this...the 3/4" went on! 

It ain't pretty and it's thicker that I wanted it to be but hey, its going up against the wall and NO ONE will ever see it!  So there!  Dont' judge me it on its looks...but on its functionality instead.  On a score of 1 - 10...I give it a 9.5 :)  Not bad if you ask me!

So after all our efforts...here is the end result

 I love it!  It is exactly what I was going for.  And to make sure that each of us knows whose block is whose...I painted letters to correspond to the 1st letter of our names. 

This area isn't quite finished yet, but it's off to a good start! 

So what do you think?  Think you could do this?  Is this something you would want for your "Central Station"? 

You'll find this partying at the following places...go join the funt!
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
The DIY Showoff
Skip to My Lou
The Girl Creative
Savvy Southern Style
Blue Cricket Design
Seven Thirty Three