We have been busy around here with a minor kitchen renovation that was predominately paint, but provided us an opportunity to create a functional home for school stuff like backpacks, lunchboxes, and school communication. Although my kids have coat hooks in their rooms the thought of school papers being lost in that abyss and backpacks being used to house stuffed animals made me shudder. The majority of this school year my daughter’s backpack has lived on the door knob in the hall and school papers were unceremoniously dropped on the  kitchen island. There had to be a better way!  I dream of one day owning a home with a cool mud room or gorgeous entryway that I have seen on Pinterest, but we had to work with our home as it is. There is one small chunk of wall in the kitchen that was big enough to serve our needs. My Requirements: Low hooks to hold backpacks, a low shelf for lunchboxes, and a holder for school paperwork and communication folders. Check out the finished product!

Not too fancy, but very functional!

I am lucky that I have a very handy husband who built the shelf and magazine-style holder, but I did search the internet for inspiration and there are tons of options out there if you aren’t as handy. I also added a wall calendar and a cork-board to hold all of the invitations and whatnot.

This little command center was a quick weekend project, but now my kids have a friendly place to put all their school stuff so that both they and I can access it!