Building a Kitchen Command Central!

I have been trying to work on some home improvement projects to update the house and make things look a bit more organized.  One spot that really bugs me is my kitchen counter dump spot!  I have this big gap on the wall with a calender in the middle- useful but looks terrible!  I also shove all important papers behind the phone base and it just looks messy and cluttered.  I also have been trying to come up with a visible chore chart for the kids in one of the main areas of the house.  I decided to take a few objects from around the house and spruce things up a bit.

Pictures of the current situation:

I found an old cork board that I have been using in the office for the last 20 years or so.  It had an old Oak-wood edge and the cork is coming apart in a few places.  I also took an old dark wood colored bill rack that I had marked for Good will since I had nowhere to put it.  I primed the edge of the cork board and then spray painted them both a nice bright red!

I found this cool paisley fabric at Walmart.  It has all the colors I am using in my new color scheme for the great room.  I cut the fabric slightly larger than the board so I could tuck the edges under.

I used School Glue to glue the fabric to the board and then tucked the edges under with a putty knife. 

After that I went to work on the Chore Chart.  I knew I wanted to have the boys doing a set of chores and rotate them out weekly.  I didn't want a daily check-sheet because after trying various systems, I just feel like that is kind of a waste of time.  As long as they know they are responsible for that chore for the whole week, I am good with it. We rotate chores every Sunday.

To make the chores buttons,  I used paint swatches in coordinating colors from Lowe's.  I used my circle cutter to cut them down to size, then a sharpie to write the chores on them.  I inked the edges to make them look neat and then laminated them and cut them down to size again.  Then I attached magnets with school glue and let them try.

I bought a metal strip from Home Depot and used Gorilla Glue to attach the board to the fabric-covered cork board.  I labeled the board and separated it into 3 sections- 1 for each boy.

 

I attached the bill rack, a large nail for to hold the calender, and a small dry erase board for notes .

The finished project!

I love it!  It has been working out really well, has really made the kitchen look neat and organized, and adds alot of color to the wall.  Love, love, love it!