Entry Awesomeness: Killer Command Center

The fabulous Erin from Managing the Manor is stopping by today to share her brilliant entryway organization. Check out this killer command center!

One area that we’ve always been, shall we say, “challenged”, has been our entryway.  In our old house, we were limited to our wine bar in the kitchen as a catch-all.  In our new house, wallets, mail, and a lot of other “stuff” had been thrown onto the edge of one of our kitchen counters.  BOOO for clutter!  Granted, we would try and keep it cleaned off, but it really bugged me that there wasn’t a better place to put these things.

The official office area is upstairs, but I wanted to create a space that could hold small incoming and outgoing items.  The Manor doesn’t have an actual foyer or mudroom; but there is a great little corner in our kitchen, which is the first room seen upon entering from the garage.

Without further ado, here is the completed space!

The corkboard was purchased Hobby Lobby, and my gracious hubs painted it.  He was working on another paint project that used white paint, so he just taped around the frame with painter’s tape and ran over it a few times with the roller.  Easy update.

On the Wall:

• 2-Slot Hanging File for incoming mail by Martha Stewart for Avery
• Monthly calendar (check out her Manor Planner for more details)
• School schedules & reminders for upcoming events
• A Wall Manager from Martha Stewart keeps all of family keys corralled

On the Floor:

• An Expedit bookshelf from Ikea holds purses & her son’s preschool bookbag (so cute!)
• The baskets (also from Ikea) are a nice holding area for shoes & toys (an easy way to prevent piles of dropped items by the door!)

The brown organizer on top is another great piece from the Martha Stewart Stack & Fit Desk collection at Staples.

It holds envelopes, stamps, sticky notes, and extra push pins for the cork board.

The mason jar beside it contains pens and pencils, and the vase displays seasonal decor.  I, of course, chose hydrangeas for the Summer season.  They’re beautiful right now! (Agreed!)

This new center is great to manage mail items and to help keep clutter off of the kitchen counters.  It’s a small space, but it really packs the punch needed in this high-traffic area!  We spent about $80 on items for this space (thanks to some awesome sales and coupons), but it was completely worth it for all the nice, functional pieces we were able to find.

Thanks so much for sharing your command center, Erin!! I love that you created such a pretty, organized place to “catch” all of the incoming items that typically create clutter (shoes, mail, keys, etc.) — WITHOUT spending a ton of money OR taking up a lot of room! So smart!

About Erin (a.k.a. Queen of the Manor)

I believe that a beautiful, organized home can happen on any budget.  We keep our projects low-cost by doing most or all of the work ourselves.  Whether we’re rehabbing furniture, painting, decorating, or landscaping–we get through it one DIY project after another.  I want to share what inspires us and hopefully inspire others.

Check out her blog, Managing the Manor, for more inspiration & awesomeness!