A Fourth Purpose for Pantry: Family Central

I recently got fed up with the stacks of mail, school papers, advertisements, catalogs, etc. that always seem to clutter my counter-tops in the kitchen.  And when I say "fed up," I really mean irrationally upset.

And thus, a Fourth Purpose for our pantry was born....

On one end of the pantry we have an actual Pantry, the creation of which is described in this past post: 

Pantry Phase 1 Complete

On the other end we have Laundry.  On one long wall we have an eventual Mudroom area (that is currently adorned with those plastic, removable hooks and a small bench).  

And on the other long wall, we had this:

I did not want to put anything large and obtrusive here because the eventual Mudroom would take up enough space as it is.  We wouldn't be able to move around in that room very well , which kinda defeats the purpose of making it a multi-functional room.

I also had a bunch of random organizational items that we moved from the old house and had not found a new place for in the new house.  Whiteboard, calendar whiteboard, metal magazine/paper holders (whatever they're called), etc.  I did not like the idea of hanging these in the kitchen because I was going for a certain "look" in there.  I knew that putting them in the kitchen would be a "gateway drug" for other junk and miscellaneous items and papers that I, again, was tired of seeing all over my kitchen counters.

And so, I decided to make the fourth wall into a sort of "Family Central" wall where all of that stuff could exist but be fairly hidden from guests and not in the way of a kitchen's real purpose.

My handy-dandy husband was tasked with figuring out how to hang all of these things onto the wall (mostly because he won't let me TOUCH the walls... probably smart).  I arranged everything on the counter how I wanted to see it hung, and he went to work.

Within an hour, my new Family Central clutter zone was finished:

I keep all of those annoying pizza place coupons and the ever-important-to-remember-as-you're-headed-out-the-door-to-Jo-Ann-Fabrics coupons in the magazine holder things.  Some other random items have made their way in as well apparently ... sunscreen, a CD of Disney music, my checkbook ... but that's ok.  Are they on my kitchen counter? NO! = Success.

I have plans to add a few small shelves for things like sunglasses and wallets.  I'm looking for some cute key hooks, or I might make one all DIY-style.  You never know...