Like many family’s kitchens, ours is full of hustle and bustle. With five growing children, two huge dogs who love to “help” me load the dishwasher, and an eat-in table area, our kitchen is a lively central zone. Because there’s always so much going on, when it came time to redo our kitchen, I purposely chose a quiet color palette (white, dark gray, and gold with light matte gray counters) so that our decor doesn’t also scream for attention.
But I also enjoy a bit of whimsy. We have a gallery wall that surrounds our corner eat-in area styled after my favorite downtown speakeasy, and one side of our fridge is plastered with photos of loved ones and kids’ artwork. I love little personal touches that make our kitchen feel like ours, and I always have my feelers out for more unique and homey touches to add.
A recent Target Bullseye’s Playground find that was all over social media fit the bill exactly: gold vintage frame fridge magnets. At just $3 each, picking up a few for the fridge seemed like a total no-brainer. I’ve been trying to add more candid family photos to our space, and I like the unexpectedness of a “fancy” frame on the fridge.
To my dismay, my Target didn’t have any of the frames, and they weren’t available to order online either. But I couldn’t get the thought of these adorable gold vintage frames for the fridge out of my mind! I decided to make it happen one way or another. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the easiest to find good dupes. Etsy had some, and so did Urban Outfitters. But they weren’t quite right and were both more than I wanted to spend. Plus, their expected shipping arrival was longer than I wanted to wait!
So, I improvised. I got a set of two gold vintage frames, one oval and one rectangular, for $6.99 from Amazon. They are smaller than the Target ones, but I actually love them even more. And while they don’t have glass, I don’t mind that either. The biggest issue is that they aren’t magnetic, but the fix is easy: magnetic strip tape. The roll technically cost $5.19 (though it’s on sale now!), but because I hardly used any of it and I’m sure I’ll find other uses for it, I used girl math and don’t count it toward the cost of the frames, ha!
I printed out two special family pictures, one of our dogs, Scarlett and Red, and a sunset silhouette of the kids at our favorite beach. I taped them to the back of the frames and then added the magnetic tape (realizing after the fact that I could have just used the adhesive of the magnetic tape to secure the pictures as well). It worked perfectly.
I love these little frames and seeing these special memories every time we open the fridge. In addition to being just plain pretty and fun, the frames figuratively frame the moments they display, bringing them out of the past and into our daily life.