Minimalism Week #19 - Command Centre

Since our little girl has been mobile, I have been meaning to tackle this project.  The shelf in our kitchen was intended to be a functional part of our command center.  Instead, my husband piled papers in it and tiny gadgets that he didn't want to find a home for.  I was also guilty of stashing items in it that had no home.  When Miss. E starting crawling around she would use the shelf to pull herself up and then yank down Hubby's papers, pausing to try and put some of them in her mouth.  I knew that the shelf had to go.

For my minimalism project, I tackled the shelf and I also went through the drawer that doubles as a utensil drawer and part of our command center.

Here is the before:

Hubby refuses to put his lunch kit and water bottles in a cupboard, so I have to work around that.  

Our command center is part of our tiny kitchen.

The large utensil/command centre drawer.  (Yikes!)

Here is the after:

I stole this shelf from our spare bedroom, where it was acting as an nightstand.  We don't have guests often, so I will be able to improvise when we do.  This stand works better in the kitchen/command center because it is only two shelves, so there is less chance of clutter building.  If I am feeling ambitious this summer, I might paint it white.  I devoted the shelf to Hubby's lunch kit and water containers.  He is happy because it is out and ready to go.  I am happy because it is neat and tidy.  

The old self was cleared out and we sorted the objects into their homes around the house.  It is sitting downstairs awaiting a new home.

I cleared off the top of the butcher block.  I kept my day planner (essential!), our Gratitude jar (Pinterest idea that I LOVED), and our phone/device chargers.  I got rid of the hanging silver container because it seems useful, but in actuality it just gathered junk.  Each device cord is neatly hung on a hook.

The utensil drawer/command center drawer is much better than before!  I cleared everything out and sorted through the utensils.  I relocated the packages of batteries to Hubby\s battery drawer.  I got rid of a few things that we don't use, including some wine toppers, utensil clips and a broken icing dispenser.  I devoted a basket to notepads, pens and other office supplies.  I stashed our take out menus vertically in the drawer, along with our address book and garbage tags.  It looks much neater and is much more functional.