command central

Do you have a "command central" in your house?  I sure do.  It is right in that crucial spot where our mud room/ laundry room, kitchen & garage door meet.  For years, I had searched for a huge magnetic board to accommodate all of the adorable cards, invitations, reminders, mementos & school work that we need to have front & center.  For years, the only options I had found were small.  It seemed 24" was as big as I was going to get without blowing my budget completely.

Then, my DIY streak took over.  Last spring, I started calling metal suppliers.  Well, who am I kidding? I started and then stopped... the first place I called was more than willing to do what I was looking for (cut 3' X 4' sheets of metal) for a reasonable price.  I placed my order, and asked when I could pick it up, expecting the gentleman to say a few weeks.  "2:00 today" he said.  SOLD.

So my handy dandy dad (you're the best, Pop!!) got to work building some frames, I got to work covering the metal with some different fabrics that I had sitting around the house, and before you knew it we had some beautiful, durable, functional magnetic boards.  

See?

The first board, as I said, is our command central.  I got the trim pieces at Michael's ~ I think the trim adds a lot of personality to it.  You'll see I still have our family Christmas cards displayed (yes, it is September today!).  Also, you'll see my favorite birth announcement... ever.  Seriously, M, I can hardly stand it when I look at your beautiful twin babies, crying their hearts out!  Classic!

Here is the profile view.

Then we continued making more boards for the basement.  There's a story here... I am a picture nut.  Love them.  Love to decorate with them.  From the time my boys were babies, I had our favorite pictures of family, friends, etc., blown up to 8 X 10's and I framed them in black frames with white mats in our basement playroom.  They were adorable, and perfect for the space.  At one point, we probably had 140 of them up on the walls.

Then my boys got bigger.  And stronger (who knows where I'm going with this?!?)  And a picture or two got knocked down by a flying ball/swinging bat/ flung pillow/ etc.  Before we ended up with broken glass in our playroom, I made the decision to take down all the pictures.  No easy task, and also heartbreaking.  

So when the magnetic boards came into my life, the pictures came back up... and momma was happy.  Just to give you an idea of the size of these boards, all the pictures you see here are 8 X 10's.

And this picture below just had to make the blog... it is quite possibly my favorite picture ever.  This is my younger son, with very dear friends of ours who are twins.  As you can see, the sweet twin on the left has very little hair.  That is because when this picture was taken, as we were leaving story time at the library one morning, she was in the fight of her life against a ferocious malignant brain tumor.  By the grace of God, she is here with us today... healthy, happy, a living miracle to everyone who is blessed enough to know her.   Hug your children, mommas, they are God's gift to us.

And, while I'm at it (on the subject of deep thoughts, that is)... I know this is a blog about furniture, but I want to share this with you.  Our sermon this past Sunday morning (can you tell we love love love our new minister?!) was about how we treat one another.  About remembering that everyone is struggling in some way, shape or form.  And to try and remember that when we are dealing with other people.  We don't know where they are coming from in their hearts.  What they are facing, whether it is heartbreak, illness, loss... but if we assume the best in everyone, rather than the worst, wouldn't the world be a better place?  

It takes so much energy to be angry, mean or hateful.  And it is soooo easy to be kind.  To smile or share an encouraging glance with someone.  To offer someone your help or support, even if you're not quite sure why they need it.

I'll never forget when my sister's baby was born & then died shortly after, we were headed to the funeral home to make arrangements.  My sister, brother in law and I were backing out of their driveway and someone flying down the street just blasted their horn at us.  All I could think was "Don't they know these people's baby just died??"  And, of course, no- they didn't know.  They overreacted to us easing out of the driveway and completely frazzled our already frazzled nerves.  All for what?

If we assume that people are all doing the best that they can, with what God has given them, I think we'd all be happier.  And blessed by the experience.

And now I'll get off my soapbox, and back to our regularly scheduled programming :)

If you want to make your own board, and you live in the Atlanta area, contact me & I'll send you the information for the metal supply company- they're in Norcross.

kathie