DIY Back To School Kitchen Command Centre from Staples + Free Printables

With Little C’s first day of Kindergarten fast approaching, I’m starting to get nervous thinking about how I’m going to stay on top of everything. I’ll be the first to admit that I definitely fall short in the organization and cleanliness categories – I’d much rather be crafting or baking than cleaning or bookkeeping! I’m determined to be more organized this year (I was that mom in playschool that lost everyone’s birthday party invites and forgot to sign all of the field trip forms) and I’ve come up with a fun spot in Our DIY House to help me. With some help from Staples, I’ve transformed the side panel of my fridge into a back-to-school kitchen command center to hold all of my organization tools in one spot. It’s cute looking, it’s functional, and it will help me be more organized this year as we embark on our new journey of school-aged kids.

I’m so very proud to say that we’ve already finished our back to school shopping this year! *High five!* I took the girls (and Grandma, for backup) to our local Staples to find all of the tools we needed for Kindergarten. It was actually pretty awesome. Little C was just buzzing with excitement, I was feeling weepy and sentimental, Grandma was helping with the two little ones, and we found everything we needed in one stop. If you have two or more kids, you’ll know how fantastic this is! Plus, you can redeem Air Miles at Staples or you can even shop online if that’s easier (they have free delivery on orders over $45). Not only did we get everything we needed for Kindergarten, I bought all of the goodies I wanted for my back to school kitchen command centre on the side of my fridge. I’m loving it already! It’s in a great spot – by our back entry hook wall and right beside my coffee nook – and it has everything I need to stay organized all in one place. Do you want one of these in your home for the upcoming school season? Here’s what I used and how I put mine together. Supplies (for a 32″ wide wall or side panel area):

• 3 Martha Stewart Home Office™ With Avery™ Wall Manager™ Accessory Board 21600, Chalk White
• 1 Martha Stewart Home Office™ With Avery™ Wall Manager™ Inbox, 21730, Chalk White
• 1 Martha Stewart Home Office™ With Avery™ Wall Manager™ Tall Caddy, 21710, Chalk White
• 1 Martha Stewart Home Office™ With Avery™ Wall Manager™ Shelf, 21760, Chalk White, 3″ x 12″
• 1 Martha Stewart Home Office™ With Avery™ Wall Manager™ Magnetic Dry-Erase Board 21610, Chalk White
• 1 Martha Stewart Home Office™ With Avery™ Wall Manager™ Clip 21670, Chalk White, 2/Pack
• 1 Martha Stewart Home Office™ With Avery™ Wall Manager™ Letter Caddy, 21720, Chalk White
• 1 Martha Stewart Home Office™ With Avery™ Message Board 21820, Flourish, Blue Border, 15″ x 20″
• 1 MotherWord 2014/2015 Ultimate Family Fridge Calendar, 18″ x 13-1/2″, English
• 2 Staples® Hardboard Clipboard, Letter, 9″ x 12″, 2-Pack
• 1 Avery® Fashion Round Ring Binder, 1″, Chevron (optional, for a family management binder)
• 3 5×7 framed piece of art
• 2 packs 3M™ Command™ Medium Picture Hanging Strips

Directions: Using the 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips, mount all of the items to the side panel of your fridge as shown. My side panel measured 32″ wide, so adjust the supplies you’ll need if your area is smaller or larger. You also may want to rearrange the order of things a little differently than what I’ve done to suit your own family! This is the arrangement I came up with that I think suits our family of 5 the best. Clip your Wall Manager accessories into the Wall Manager slats, start pinning up memos and writing notes and you’re ready to go. If you want to use the printables I’ve designed for your own back to school command center (menu plan, chore charts, and cleaning plan), you can download them for free as PDF’s here. I’ll share what’s in my family management binder and some more free printables for that soon. Click on the image below to download your free command centre printables: Thank you, Staples, for making our back-to-school shopping experience so fun and for inspiring me to be more organized this year! Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Staples Canada. As always, the opinions shared here are my own.