Home Office Part 2: Backpack Station

Home Office Part 2: Backpack Station

Click here to read Part 1: Setup

Kids require a lot of gear for school. Backpacks, coats, gloves, shoes, projects, notes from teachers, and notes to send back to the teacher. We needed a space to 'catch' all these items when they came home and keep them all organized. I thought long and hard and sketched several designs before deciding on one I liked. 

First, I needed a place to park their shoes. I like to keep school shoes separate from dress and play shoes. They are required to wear tennis shoes for gym class, and I hate hunting for missing shoes. I got them each a bucket in their color to hold 2 or 3 pairs of shoes. They typically hold rain boots, tennis shoes, and casual slip-ons.

Then, I needed a place to hang their backpacks and coats. We live in the south, and weather can vary from 100* to low teens, hot and muggy to rainy and windy. So we needed it to hold a light jacket and a heavy winter coat, as well as the backpack. I decided on these pretty three-prong hooks, which were sturdy enough to support the weight of everything but also looked nice on the wall. 

I also wanted to hang a bulletin board to hang notes, permission slips, schedules, and other important information. This is also where I keep a list of emergency contacts and information in case my children have to call 911. I use large thumb tacks to hold the important information at the top, since it doesn't need to be changed often. I added smaller tacks at the bottom for the kids to pin up anything I needed to sign. I often hang up finance information or other family notices on the board as well.

Finally, I wanted it all to look cohesive, rather than a jumbled mess of stuff. I picked out this lovely bench with three cubbies to hold the shoe buckets and a comfy seat for them to sit and take off their shoes. The seats also raise up for additional storage, which is nice for school projects or extra supplies they may need. I think it pulled it all together and made my entryway look a little nicer, while also helping keep school needs organized and ready to go.

I love the way it looks, and getting the kids on the bus in the morning is easy when everything is by the door and ready to go.

Home Office Part 1: The Setup

Home Office Part 1: The Setup

If you work from home, home-school your kids, or are a student yourself, the home office can be the most important room in your house. How your office is set up can determine whether you work efficiently or spend all your time hunting down supplies and clearing off a place to work.

I am a full time student, I do some work from home, and I have three kids who need a place to do homework. It took lots of trial and error to find a setup that worked for everybody. As an extra challenge, my home office is also the main entryway to my home. This meant that on top of my typical office needs, I also needing a landing spot for keys, mail, and bags. We had to get a little creative, but we finally got a system that works for us.


This is the layout of my home office. It's a very odd layout, so it's hard to get a picture of the whole room. These were taken when we first moved in, so it's clean and empty.

Standing right inside the front door, this is the view. Office to the right, living room straight ahead, kitchen in the back right corner.

I have very little wall space, so we had to get creative with the layout.

A large window uses up most of the front wall, and the wall to the left of the door has the garage door, so furniture won't fit there.

We needed 3 main sections: homework area, backpack area, and mommy work area. We also needed to squeeze in the book shelf and filing cabinet.

When considering how you want to set up your home office, take into account the layout and any specific areas you may need. Do you need a craft area? Homework table? Home-school area with room to teach and work? Do you work from home and require a fax machine, phone, or other equipment? Decide what you need before buying or moving anything to save time and money.

In Part 2 we will work on the Backpack Station, perfect for the kids to dump all their school gear when they come home.