Where is your home’s “command centre”?

Where in your home does everything accumulate?  The dining table? A corner of the kitchen bench?  Or do you have a dedicated space for this “nerve centre” of your home?

Here at Fresh Focus Design we call this area the “dump zone” or more elegantly the “command centre”, but its name does not give enough credit for its importance.  It is typically the place where bags, keys, bills and school notes end up.  It may include a charging station for electronics, a family computer, and “lost” items such as sunnies, a doll’s missing eye and a container that needs to be returned to your aunt when you see her next.

In the spirit of the saying, “A place for everything, and everything in its place”, let’s move the mess from the dining table, and clear the clutter on the kitchen bench and create a dedicated command centre.  Here are three key ingredients for this zone:

• Instinct – wherever you enter your home, the dump zone must be located between the door you enter from most regularly and (usually) the kitchen bench, for example, create a storage solution for shoes by the door with hooks for school bags, a desk further inside the house for your handbag and sunnies plus an “in-box” for bills and school notes to land in. Work with your habits.  If you know you only take your shoes off when you hit the couch, don’t force yourself to take your shoes off at the door.  But if you’re always searching for your keys before leaving home, create a new habit and hang them at the door.
• Ease – Think of height, the best dump zone is often desk or bench height so items can be dropped as you walk by. Think of flow, you will not wish to make a turn around a corner to get to your dump zone.  Design your joinery specifically for your needs, a desk built alongside the kitchen joinery, a shelf for your bag, boxes for odds and ends and a filing tray for bills.
• Hide the clutter – The dump zone is typically in a high traffic area and also visually busy, and when visitors come you want to be able to hide the clutter. Consider a lid for the box of notes and bills, retract the doors on the desk, and slide the storage boxes under the bench.

Want help decluttering your home’s dump zone? Call Fresh Focus Design today on 0405 230 099.  In the meantime, check out my Pinterest page for more ideas.