Prettifying a practical object.... Dry Erase Board

Hi blog friends! We are in the full swing of September and our craziness is just getting crazier!

I feel that I spend a chunk of time every day discussing logistics with my husband and friends. With three kids at three different schools, and one that is a bit of a trek away from our house (25 minutes or so), plus me teaching, plus my hubby's on call schedule, plus triathlon, and our oldest's cross-country schedule.... well, at least once per day there is chatting with someone about "how we are going to get so and so from point A to point B."

A couple weeks ago, my hubby and I had an hour long conversation at 9pm because he remembered he was on call the next day. which meant he would probably be there to get Ian since I was teaching, but if he was called he wouldn't be able to be there. Plus, Ian's track meet was across town, like WAY across town. So this sparked a need to write notes to the coaches preemptively IN CASE my hubby couldn't be there, and a whole big mess ensued since our normal carpool backup friends were out of town. Ugh. SO anyway, we get the whole thing solved and then the next morning I get a text from Ian. "I forgot my XC uniform, can you bring it to me?" I about lost it right then and there. I was sick, I'd had a sick 5 year old at home all week, I had tons of theater and blogging work to do, and NOW I was going to lose an hour of my day delivering my son's uniform. Normally, I wouldn't have done it. As a mom, I believe in natural consequences, and normally I would have said "that's a bummer you will have to miss the meet." But, in this case if I didn't do it, it was going to throw all the plans we had worked so hard to get in place out the window. So anyway, I delivered the uniform. It won't happen again and Ian knows that.

When I got home from uniform delivery; I started thinking how he has a hard time remembering things. It's a struggle for him. I knew we were going to need to start making checklists. The best place for the checklist to be is the last place he sees before he leaves the house; the back of the front door. We had an old dry erase board in the basement and that would work well since the list will change from day to day depending on activities and classes. This is his first year of middle school and it's been a bit of a shock for him, getting up so much earlier, and having so many different teachers and activities.

I have never been a fan of things that are utilitarian, but not pretty. If possible, I will do my best to make things visually appealing to me. I was figuring I could give this old dry erase board a little makeover. So I did, and it was quick too. Here's how:

First, clean the board. Ours had been in our basement so it was covered in cobwebs and dust. a quick spray with some cleaner and a paper towel and it was good.

I considered painting the wood frame, but that would take time I didn't have. Washi tape proved to be a good solution here. I trimmed the mitered corners with an exacto knife.

I added ribbon to the back for hanging. I stapled the ribbons together:

 Then hot glued the ribbons to the back of the board and hot glued a square cardstock scrap on top of that. the purpose here was twofold: (1) It would make it sturdier having the ribbons sandwiched between the cardstock and the frame. (2) The cardstock square would prevent my door getting scratched by the staples.

 I added some flowers for fun, and tied a dry erase marker to the ribbons with Divine Twine. Now we can make a list at night and he can check it off as he makes sure he has everything. Yea!

Well, that is all for me today. What pretty and practical solutions have you come up with to keep your family organized? I would love to hear! If you comment with a solution you've written about on your own blog-please link me up in the comment! I will come see what great ideas you have. :)

Have a fabulous day! xo, Noelle