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.
LOVE this Christina!!! I’ve been eying up those Martha boards too – SUCH a pretty way to stay organized! LOVE the clipboards too!
Thanks, Kristi! This whole system is awesome and so easy to put together. The clipboards have been really handy so far too!
I really need to set something up like this at my house. Right now I have two clipper magnets on my fridge, one for each child… but, yours looks much prettier and organized!
Thanks, Carrie! I’m really hoping this will help me this year. I love the magnets on the fridge idea too!
it looks really great Christina!! I definitly have to get that inbox box. wanted it forever!
I love the color you choose, as it is cheerful and bright too look at 🙂
My favorite?
those printables !!!
Thanks, Yasmina! You are the sweetest. Yes, I love how colourful and cheerful the whole wall is. It makes being organized a little more fun! Thanks for visiting.
Your printables are SO pretty! I love them! And I’m very impressed with your organizing centre.
Staples is my favourite place to shop for school supplies, too, and I just recently discovered their Martha Stewart line! I’m trying to figure out what to get to help me organize. . .
I love Staples too! It has far too many pretty office things. I hope this centre will keep me more organized than last year! I will need some of your veteran back-to-school mom organizing tips.
Oh goodness, I don’t even know if I have any tips!
Okay, I have one: always fill out permission slips and other forms the same day the kids bring them home, write the dates of the field trip/hot lunch/whatever on your calendar, and return the forms to school the next day. I can’t tell you how many times I packed my kids lunches because I forgot that I’d bought them a hot lunch that day. . . so annoying and wasteful! And invariably, papers that I put on an “I’ll read it later” pile end up completely forgotten.
As soon as the kids come home from school, they empty their lunch bags and put their agendas on the kitchen counter for me to read. While they eat their snack, I check their agendas for forms and homework, and if I can, I fill out forms right then and there. Scholastic book orders I usually save for perusing the next day though.
I’m sure you’ll be just fine! It’s only kindergarden, after all. =)
That’s really good advice. I KNOW I’ll have to get C to immediately empty her backpack and sort things through otherwise everything WILL get lost. I’m so embarrassed to say I’ve missed birthday party invites and field trip forms from playschool this way. 🙁
Hi if possible can you repost the command center prinables? Love them