HOw To MESSAGE CENTER TAKING SHAPE

Recently, I was visiting one of my favorite blogs, THIS posting about creating a message center by the door.  That post intrigued me very much, so I set about making something similar.  I'm not quite finished, but it's almost there.  Instead of waiting, I figured I'd show what I've done so far.  I found a green chalkboard and frame on clearance for $5 at my local craft store.  I decided to use it and so I painted it white.  Sorry I missed those photos, my camera was left at the farm and not in the city so I only got the finished pictures after I took it out there and got it hung up, d'oh!

Use your imagination to see how I simply taped off the blackboard portion, used some gloss white Krylon spray paint to cover the green and ended up with this.  Then, I added a rail/shelf at the bottom using a scrap piece of wood I had and painted it the same color.  It sort of all looks like it's one piece and was supposed to be that way.  Best of all, it gives me a place to lay the chalk.  Of course, what did I forget?  Yep, the chalk!  Is there such a thing as "farm brain"?  If so, I have it!  I'll buy some this week and take it out there this weekend.  Here is the finished (chalkboard anyway) result:

Message Center

Closeup of key rack and bottle opener

This is a close up of the the key rack.  This is the only "new" thing I got, bought it at Target and thankfully, it was inexpensive.  It's the perfect gloss white to match the frame and we can hang our keys on it.  I have a similar one at the front entryway door that I'll show later in the week.  We have a bad habit of running around as we are trying to leave going "where are my keys?"  "have you seen my keys?"  A place to hang them at either door as you walk in is the  perfect solution.

As for that other reddish metal thing next to it, that's an old Coca Cola bottle opener!  We found that in a big pile of stuff that was left behind.  It's dated 1927 on the back!  Pretty cool.  I didn't wanted to paint it, I like it just the way it is.  The cool thing is that this is mounted right on the side of the mudroom exterior door, and around the corner from the fridge.  That makes it very simple to grab a bottle of, er, whatever we happen to have "on hand", stop next to the door to pop the top, then push open the screen door and head outside to enjoy the drink of your choice!

I still want to get a calendar for the wall, a wall mounted 'bottle cap holder' under the bottle opener, and then a place to pin papers and stuff like that, probably under the key rack, some sort of bulletin board.  Working on those things this week, hitting up some more thrift stores, and will hopefully take it all out this weekend and finish it up.  Overall, I am very pleased how this came out, keeps everything organized in one place, and it makes me feel productive knowing that I pulled it all together.

Thanks Tonya for the inspiration!