Simple Minimalist Family Command Center ideas

A home command center is a great way to keep family members on track in various ways! Let’s learn how to create a family command center for a minimalist home. Let’s go over why command centers are great, what essentials you want, how to design the command center, and tips so you avoid mistakes and clutter.

A madeover command center with pins, calendar, meal planner, post it notes, pens and two small pieces of children's artwork

Why are command centers so amazing?

Home command centers are great because they are the perfect place where the family can go for common and necessary information by keeping many things in a designated spot.

A kitchen command center improves the organization and efficiency of daily family and individual tasks. Not sure when Billy’s baseball game is? Check the command center. Check the command center if your daughter wants to add her favourite treat to the grocery list.

I also love command centers because keeping important information in a central location allows children to begin to take more responsibility for their chores, calendars and to-do lists.

Basically, the command center is THE place where important things will be. Can’t you just hear yourself saying “Check the command center!” when your family asks where the shopping list is?

What is the best location for your minimalist family command center?

You don’t need a huge home, even a family with a small home can benefit from a command center.

Keeping your command center in a designated space that is central like the kitchen is a great idea. Other people might prefer to keep it slightly out of the way in the home office. A laundry room or mud room could also be a fantastic area of the command center.

Even a small space tucked into the corner, inside of a kitchen cabinet, or a hallway can work.

Keep in mind that your minimalist family command center should be:

a. Accessible for the entire family

b. Have space for the components of your command center

c. Have easy access and easy reach to components

d. Have wall space if you’re planning a wall command center or to use a wall-mounted organizer.

e. Have a desk or shelf for things like car keys

kitchen desk bullet board calendar meal planner on family command center

Designing your command center

What do you want your beautiful command center to look like? Do you want bright colors? Do you want a chalkboard wall? Do you want a wall command center? There are so many great options to choose from!

Pinterest has a lot of great ideas!

There are a lot of ways to make a DIY command center. You can get all fancy with magnetic strips to attach little baskets, put some fabric over your bulletin board, or just go plain Jane like me.

Do you want to use a dry erase board or even have a BIG paper mounted that you can write things down and tear off after a month?

How can you make it functional, yet pretty and fun?

My command center mini-makover!

I am Minimalist Lite, so I keep a few things around, but I still wanted a minimalist command center.

I revamped it because it was looking a little cluttered, so I reorganized it a bit.

We have a bulletin board over a small desk. I wanted to keep photos and other fun things, yet keep it clean and still have a wee bit of personality!

I have our wall calendar where we can jot down work schedules and appointments. SUPER handy!

Our meal plan is in plain view for the kids, and right next to the grocery list!

My made-over minimalist command center with a calendar, meal planner, post it notes and pens

What essentials do you want in your command center?

It’s helpful to step back and evaluate what important things should be kept in the command center. It’s a great idea to check with family members for what they might find helpful to keep in the command center in addition to your thoughts. Here are some ideas:

To-do list

Having a master to-do list for the whole family or even just adults is a great addition to the command center.

Grocery list

Do you ever have family members saying “Hey, we need more chips?” or “How come you didn’t get blueberries? I told you…”

Keeping the shopping lists at the command center is perfect for the family to know where to add the Cheetos and yogurt because everyone knows where it is.

Family calendar

A family schedule can be a messy, complicated and tangled entity. I like the idea of keeping the monthly calendar at the command center so every member of the family knows what important events are coming up!

Important documents

You could consider keeping important papers and documents at the command center. I tend to keep ours in a binder in the office, but perhaps you want to use file folders or something else to organize your papers and such.

Chore chart

Kids keep saying “I didn’t knooooowwww it was my day to do the dishwasher!” Aha!! No more! You can keep those chore charts in plain sight so they can no longer feign ignorance.

Meal plan

Keeping your meal plan in your central spot might help reduce the “Mom, what’s for dinner??” questions. I won’t eliminate them, but, yes, hopefully it reduces them.

Message board

As your family gets busier and busier, having a message board is great for communicating with people when they’re running around and you are like ships passing in the night!

Stationary

Having a spot for office supplies and beloved sticky notes will make it MUCH easier to scribble a note out or sign a permission slip when you’re running late.

School papers

Even in this digital age, I’m finding our family is still getting a lot of paperwork sent home. Keeping the school papers in a folder on the bulletin board or organizer is helpful for knowing where they will be.

I love the idea of displaying school projects so the kids can show off their work!

Drop zone

This is a bit controversial, and I think it’s VERY important to have a system and rules about this, but having a drop zone can help keep your busy family organized.

Perhaps a basket where people can place incoming mail or other things that need to come back to.

I LOVE to garden, so I could keep my pruners in that spot if it was near the garden.

Beware though because there is a HUGE possibility of clutter taking over. If you’re worried about this, forgo the command center.

Command center tips!

It can take time for the family to get used to using the command center, so don’t worry if your family resists the change.

A command center can quickly get cluttered if you don’t use a good system.

I suggest tidying it up at the end of every day. It’s a nice time to review your calendar and keep things organized.

Evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. If you are not using that magnetic board, take it out!