A Sweet and Simple Command Center Gallery Wall for Back-to-School

Our simple command center gallery wall will help organize all of the paperwork that is sure to enter our house with back-to-school time just around the corner! It is so much easier to keep the house organized when there are smart systems in place!

A Sweet and Simple Command Center Gallery Wall for Back to School with IKEA

Last week I talked about the plans we have for organizing our mudroom just in time for back-to-school, and I am so thrilled with the progress we have made so far!

One thing I was determined to put in place before school began was a command center that could act as a sort of “home base” for allllllllll of the many papers and notices and reminders that the boys bring home with them. Up until this point, these types of papers tended to clutter up our dining room table or land in our kitchen “junk drawer,” and I knew there had to be a better solution for them!

I had a small area in our mudroom right beside our coat closet that I thought would be the perfect spot to house a little command center, so I set out to create a space that would meet all of our needs.

[Psssstttt… You can find all of our best home organization strategies for every room of the house in this post!]

A huge thanks to IKEA for sponsoring this post! My favorable opinion of beautiful and functional items that make my life easier is 100% my own. 🙂 This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Before I could put anything on the walls, I knew I wanted to give the room a quick coat of paint. I painted over the dingy white color that our builder had chosen with a beautiful gray (mixed at half strength), and while I was at it, I painted both the door to the garage and the door to the coat closet a greenish aqua color— already the room felt like it had gotten a little refresh!

Mudroom with Sherwin Williams Rainwashed Painted Doors and Walls Painted Behr Marquee Silver City at Half Strength

Supplies

Next it was time to create my command center! This command center is simple and beautiful and would be really easy to duplicate in your own home. Here is a list of the items I used to create it:

Creating the Command Center

I took the measurements of my wall and actually planned out my pieces on graph paper first. I wanted items that fit well on the wall and looked good together, of course, but it was more important that the pieces solve a few organizational problems we were having when it came to the boys’ school paperwork.

The first thing I looked for was something to act as a little in/out box for both of the boys. We try to deal with most of their paperwork as soon as it comes home, but occasionally there are things like fundraiser forms or homework packets that need to stick around at our house for a little while, so we needed a place to put those types of things.

IKEA SKADIS Pegboard for a Command Center Gallery Wall

I recently discovered SKADIS, IKEA’s cute pegboard collection, and I knew it would be the perfect solution to my problem. I grabbed this vertical board along with two simple letter holders and hung them on the wall.

I then put a cute (yet not too girly 😉 ) folder in each letter holder and used my label maker to put Connor’s name on one folder and Caleb’s name on the other. In/out boxes completed!

Folder Labeled with Washi Tape and DYMO MobileLabeler Label Maker + Clear Tape

Since I tend to be a bit scatterbrained (oops!) another “must have” for our command center was a place to post reminders, things like party invitations, schedules for the boys’ special classes, things they need to take in to school on a certain day, etc. We leave the house through the mudroom most often, so this board would let us see any reminders right before we walk out the door so we don’t forget anything.

IKEA SKURAR Magnetic Board as Part of a Command Center Gallery Wall in a Mudroom

This photo of the boys was taken years ago, but it is still one of my favorites! Connor has always been Caleb’s protector! 🙂

The SKURAR magnetic board from IKEA ended up being just the right size for our command center AND it was pretty too, so I snatched one up and added it to the wall! While I was at it I hung the PANORERA wall clock so we can always make sure we’re leaving the house on time, and then I had a few small spots left over to add some decorative elements!

IKEA PANORERA Clock and IKEA RIBBA Picture Frame

I chose a RIBBA frame to fill in the gap between the clock and the magnetic board and simply filled it with a pretty piece of scrapbook paper. For the final little spot in my gallery wall, I grabbed two 6″ x 6″ canvases from the craft store, painted them aqua, and then used my cutting machine to make cute designs for them out of vinyl.

6" x 6" Canvas Art in a Mudroom Command Center Gallery Wall

It took almost two years (Eeek!) of living in this house, but I think I finally fixed the little snag in our school paperwork workflow, and I am excited to be more organized heading into this next school year! It’s amazing how a few simple systems can really make our house run so much more smoothly!

Mudroom Command Center Gallery Wall for Back to School with IKEA
Command Center Gallery Wall in Mudroom, Back to School with IKEA

I feel like I should mention that we don’t normally keep a step stool in front of our door, but it did look cute while it lasted! 😉

Update– the mudroom is done! If you’ve missed any of our other mudroom posts, you can catch up and get more details about each of the projects here:

Our Mudroom Plan

Organized Coat Closet

Command Center Gallery Wall (You’re here!)

Built-In Mudroom Nook

Organized Mudroom Reveal

(Psssstttt… Working with a small space? See how we added a “mudroom” to our very tiny townhouse here!)

Do you have a command center in your house? What elements do you include to help you stay organized? Tell me about them in the comments below!

Have a great day!

A huge thanks to IKEA for sponsoring this post! My favorable opinion of beautiful and functional items that make my life easier is 100% my own. 🙂 This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

I am a Brand Ambassadör for IKEA U.S. This is a sponsored post.

11 Comments

  1. Karen @ a house full of sunshine says:

    So fresh and pretty, Abby! Love how you made that bit of wall space so functional.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, sweet friend! We are loving it! Hope you and your crew are doing well!

      ~Abby =)

  2. I am so glad you posted this since I have been trying to figure out how to do something similar in our laundry room.
    You really gave me some great ideas !!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful, Gail! Thank you so much for your sweet words! Hope you’re having a great week!

      ~Abby =)

  3. LOVE the command wall a lot! Such a creative and artistic way to prepare for the “organized chaos “ when school starts again! Quick question, how do u get the vinyl design on your canvas painting? They are so cute!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Ricky! I cut the vinyl design with my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine. Then after the paint was dry on the canvases, I sprayed them with a light coat of spray adhesive and transferred over the designs using transfer paper. It’s the same process I used to make the canvas in this post: https://justagirlandherblog.com/how-to-make-a-hand-lettered-sign/ . I hope this helps! Have a great day!

      ~Abby =)

  4. Are you on Pinterest? I’ve searched three names and no luck. Thanks!

      1. Thanks! I wasn’t including spaces—now I know what I was doing wrong.

  5. I have that same pose in your photo of your boys, of two of my sons, and it is still one of my all-time favorites! Now they are 41 and 42, and they are still very close! Thank you for the short trip back!

    1. Abby Lawson says:

      Aw love that! Thanks so much for sharing, Sabrina! Hope you’re having a great week! <3

      ~Abby =)

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