Our 2nd home is quite different from our Jefferson St. house. We basically could move in all our belongings and enjoy it, unlike the Jefferson house that took a few years (and a few $) to make it what we wanted. However, one area we noticed was missing from our new home was a location to keep our calendar, notes, invitations, and school papers. We picked the wall in between the kitchen and powder room because its a nice central spot for my family.
I first did some research on Pinterest to see what ideas I could find. Most what I found had larger locations for their Family Message Center, or in some cases a small kitchen office. Since we had neither of those, I decided to head over to Target to see what types of bulletin boards and dry erase boards they had.
Target had a nice good selection. I came home with a ton of options knowing that I’d be returning a few since space was limited.
These are the key pieces I knew we’d used the most:
- Large dry erase board visible to the children and adults alike
- Monthly dry erase calendar with magnets and small bulletin board
- Weekly dry erase board, kid’s eye level since that would be for them.
We use the larger dry erase board for noting errands, house fixes, or a place to write items that need to be added to the grocery list. I also put quotations and reminders for the children there.
The monthly calendar is more for me to keep track of everyone’s activities in one place.
The kids items go on the weekly dry erase board. I love that they see their week day calendar and any birthday invitations or school notices at their eye level. My older child loves to get involved and add his “plans” on the dry erase board too.
If I had a little more room I would have added a bin for the kids to place their take home papers. In the end this lay out has worked best for our house.
Update: I’ve had this message center for a couple years now and it still gets daily use.
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