Bar Conversion

If you know me personally, you know I don't drink - alcohol, that is.  There isn't even a desire to.  I won't get in to all the who's, what's and why's about that, but just know that I don't.  :)  I mean, can you see me with a 'cold one' in my hand?  I think the closest I've come is IBC.  It's outrageously funny to even think about.  But, I digress.

So.  What do you do when you buy a house with, I suppose, something called a 'dry bar'?  Well, up until the other day, this space has just been a huge clutter catching area.  We have a LOT of clutter in this house.  ;)

We've also been struggling to keep school information and homework organized and contained.  My oldest comes home with 2 packets of homework on Monday that are due by Friday.  This makes it nice to have the possibility to get extra work done, but can make it difficult to keep it put up out of the reach of the little siblings.  She has had to turn in no less than 2 O originals on math work to date.  I can also grab things without paying full attention to where I move them.  (Does every mother do this?)

We needed a solution to both problems.  Can you guess after all the rambling what it is?  Yep.  The bar area is now our School/Homework Center.  See?

I didn't take a before picture to avoid the embarrassment for me and the horror for you.  You're welcome.

The wall file has a spot for each school age child and another spot devoted to the homework of the week.  I think I could actually use another one, but this is working out.  Instead of hanging it on the wall with screws or even the adhesive strips that came with it, I used some Command Picture Hanging Strips.  Love these — especially on my freshly painted walls.  :)

Underneath that we have all the necessary tools for completing said homework:  writing utensils, pencil sharpener, speakers (to hook up the IPhone for some tunes),  baby monitor, and tissues (homework time is stressful around here).

The laptop is there just because we haven't found a better place for it.  That goes for the Paul Harris bag holding all the current library books, too.

One of these days I envision a couple of stools placed under the bar for the kids to sit on and do homework, I just haven't found any that I really like.  We have time for that later on, anyway.  For now this area is housing all diapering paraphernalia and our TV trays.  It works.

I've got all the hair accessories in this area, too.  The kid's bath is upstairs.  And, while it might be beneficial for my heart, thighs and derrière to have the multiple trips up and down the stairs in the morning, I'll choose to get the exercise in some other fashion.  (or not)  Thank you very much!

This completes the tour of the newly converted space.  I want to get a calendar on the wall above the file soon.  That should help me remember important school dates, functions and field trips.  I'm thinking it would be good to have the lunch menu up there as well.

I'm very optimistic this space is going to make things much easier on us in the homework department.  Have I missed anything?  What do you all do to keep schoolwork organized at home?