I would go for the bulletin board. I use ours all the time. party invites, phone numbers, and important things I have to remember. I'm in the process of creating a message center , so I don't have any pictures yet.

Ds has a large magnetic chalkboard in his bedroom. After we got our non magnetic fridge he's had to house our magnet collection (we like picking up a postcard magnet whenever we visit National Parks). I'm looking for one for our mudroom message center. His came from Pottery Barn years ago but the ones I've seen in the catalog more recently have a long metal band on top (for hanging on a wall "system".) I suppose it could be unscrewed. I think it's the best of both worlds--available for writing quick messages and available for posting notices and pictures without the necessity of push pins and the holes created.

Here's another vote for magnetic chalkboard or magnetic whiteboard. Not only is it multipurposed, but you can hang things without putting holes in them. The doors on ours are magnetic chalkboard, and when you open it up, it's a 6" deep cabinet that has mail slots, pencil cubbies and a couple drawers. I like it becaue it hides the clutter- just shut the doors and the pile of mail disappears!

The cel phone charging stations are energy vampires that keep on sucking energy even when they're not being used. The only way to stop them is to physically pull the power cord out of the wall, which means easy access to the outlet.

FWIW, I have a couple of leftover fridge magnets stuck to the MW, which guarantees that a teen boy will see a critically important message, and a wooden cubby (I found at TJ Maxx for about $30) to hold pens/bills/catalogs/etc.

alku05...pictures, please?

We were originally going to have 12" deep upper & base cabinets on the outside pantry wall b/w the FR & Kitchen for our Message Center. But, when several measuring errors by our KD reduced the doorway b/w the rooms from 5.5' to 4', there was no way the cabinets would fit. So, we now have a "Message Center Niche" recessed into the same outside pantry wall. The niche is only about 7" deep and was sized to fit the phone. It actually could have been an inch or so shallower, but since the studs for the wall gave us 7", we went with it.

To us, the most critical elements were:

• Calendar to keep track of sports practices & games, school events, family happenings, project due dates, meetings, etc. [In this picture we had just put the calendar up & had not yet filled it in.]

• Land line phone & answering machine in a central location...in our case b/w the FR & Kitchen, which also put it central to the Garage entrance & Foyer/front door.

  This location is not only for answering the phone, but also so we can see if there are messages when we come into the house. During the remodel, the phone & answering machine were relocated to the Office/Library and we often forgot to check for messages.

• Keys since the Niche is across from the Garage entrance & a pretty straight shot from the Foyer/front door. We need a visible & easily accessible place! [Will be hung from hooks below the calendar frame.]

• Message pads (sticky notes) & pens/pencils for taking messages/leaving messages. [Yellow sticky note pads are in the pocket at the bottom of the calendar frame.]

• Charging station for my phone since I will forget it if it's not w/the keys (unplugged when not in use BlueKitObsessed!) [DH's phone & DH/DS/DD's iPods are charged elsewhere since they don't have a problem w/remembering them...and also unplugged when not in use!]

What wasn't a priority since we no longer had the cabinets:

Magnetic board b/c over the years I've found the best places to leave a message that I want to be sure my DH or kids see are: bathroom mirror if it's for the next morning or TV in the kitchen (DH) or computer screen (kids) if it's for after school/work. B/c of these locations, we use sticky notes.

Our garage door is metal so we do keep two "school bus" clip magnets for the various forms that come home from school. Each child has his/her magnet.

HTH!

Thanks to everyone for responses...as always, incredibly thoughtful and helpful.
buehl, the niche solution is brilliant...sticky notes work well for us too but i also need a place to put up the soccer schedule or birthday invitation or field trip form that needs to get signed and out the door.
zelmar, thanks for the pottery barn suggestion...had forgotten they have organization system.
positano, please post pics when you create your message ecnter.
bluekit, will follow buehl's lead and unplug chargers (good thing to remember in any event, thanks).
alku, pics please...
thanks again to all!

buehl: Could you please tell me where you got your wall calendar holder? In our remodel, we plan to box in the fridge (where calendar is usually hung on the side) so I need an attractive solution to put it on the wall. All the ones I have found are wooden and won't go so well with my decor.

Thanks!

Conn123: We transfer sports schedules to the calendar so we see everything going on on a particular day (or week) in one place...much more useful/effective for us. As to the forms, etc., that's what the "school bus" clip magnets on the garage door are for. I check them each night and the kids check and put things in them when they get home from school. The garage door is our family entrance/exit so they're seen frequently and very convenient!

I did debate either painting the back of the Niche with magnetic paint or mounting a metal white board on the back so it could also hold magnets, but in the end I decided there probably wasn't enough room for it to be particularly useful b/c the calendar & other things take up most of the wall space and we already had the "school bus clip magnet" system going that seems to work fine for us...YMMV

Katiee511: I got the calendar frame at Calendars.com just last month! We also have one of the wooden ones that we've used for years (in blue) but when I saw this while looking for this year's Charles Wysocki Americana calendar I knew immediately that it was perfect for our kitchen! I've linked it below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wrought Iron Leaves Calendar Frame

Thank you, buehl!
Just love getting the little details out of the way :)

Final view of our Message Center (hooks installed, etc.):