Family Communication Center {Getting Started}

I've made some progress on putting together a family communication center. Here's where I am at today:

I've been wanting to put together a family communication center for awhile now.   I dream of a mudroom with coats and purses and shoes and this communication center.  I comb the blog-world and Pinterest for ideas, and see lots of amazing things.

{Source via Pinterest}

But the truth is that I just plain don't have the space!  I love the look of the center pictured below from The Yellow Cape Cod, and I have been dreaming of an application for chalkboard paint, but my husband doesn't like the idea of the chalkboard dust in the house (which I totally understand).  And my kids are too little to have the center be within their reach, so it'll be confined to a higher part of the wall.  I do like the ledge with pictures, and I may be able to pull that off!

{Source}

I have a wall that is only 34 inches wide to devote to this.  Its location makes sense as you come in the house from the garage.  It is in a narrow hallway, so I can't incorporate anything that sticks out too much.

I found the white board with cork board incorporated into its frame at Target and it was the perfect size for this little wall.  I love it!  We started with just this hanging on the wall by itself and lived with that for awhile to see what else was missing.  With projects like this, where function is so important, I find that small increments are key.  Many of our ideas evolve so much that it is impossible to plan a project to its finish before implementing it (and end up with something that truly works).

A main component of our family communication center is a calendar.  This had been on the fridge, but it is a logical addition to the new area (and I'm trying to de-clutter the fridge this year!).  We use this calendar to mark upcoming events, and record both important milestones (Zoe's first tooth!) and mundane activities (when the dog got his Heartworm medication last).  And for 2012, I am SOOO excited to put on display and use our Christmas present from my 3-year old (she made it at preschool for us and it was wrapped up under the tree - AWWW!).  It is truly a masterpiece and a treasure!

So what to do next?

I'd like to incorporate better (and pretty!) storage for the dry erase pens and pencil for the calendar.  I stick with pencil for all my hand-written calendars, and I won't keep any non-dry erase pens in this area because that's just an accident waiting to happen.

I'd like to make the area more visually appealing.  A ledge with some pictures and/or decorative items would help.  Perhaps some cute hooks for keys and maybe a place for the husband's wallet (so it can stay with his keys).  I have lots of other ideas (like adding in an electrical outlet and incorporating a charging station!) but I think this area is just too small.  I'll keep you posted!  And I welcome any ideas!!

How do you organize your family's communication?

This post has been linked to:

One Project at a Time - A Bowl Full of Lemons