Bring Vintage Charm To Kitchen Fridges With An Effortless Thrift Store DIY

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Whether you're scanning for vintage dishware gems or planning your next darling DIY, the thrift store can be a veritable treasure trove of goods. And some of these previously loved items can find second lives that totally diverge from their originally intended use cases. Cute little doilies can become vintage produce bowls, teacups can become sugar scoops, and board game pieces can become particularly stylish refrigerator magnets. And Scrabble letters are practically perfect for that last project.

Anyone who grew up with those black and white magnetic poetry tiles that seemed to cover kitchens in the '90s might be enticed by this cleverly reconsidered throwback. Sure, you probably won't be able to slide together an entire grocery list (zucchini alone would totally wipe out your c's and z's), but you can still form petite greetings, goofy little love notes, or just see what words you can form when you get tired of looking at your phone as you wind down the dinner timer. So should you stumble across a basket of Scrabble letters at the thrift store, here's how to transform the tiles into cute fridge magnets.

In addition to the tiles, you'll need an adhesive like hot glue and some crafting magnets for this lexicographical endeavor. Findmag's tiny, disc-shaped magnets are seemingly tailored for these very tiles. You might want to sand the back of each Scrabble letter a bit for optimal adhesion, whether you're working with the classic wooden squares or the plastic tiles that populate some editions.

A sub-pea sized dot of hot glue (much less if you're working with the fast-running Super variety) will be enough to stick each magnet to each tile without making a mess or risking a loose fit. Touch the gun's nozzle to the tile, squeeze gently, and carefully press on the magnet. This is all, of course, equally applicable whether you've unearthed the ancient alphabet game at the actual thrift store, or you're just tired of trailing with the lowest score on your household set. The day-to-day immersion might even improve your game the next time you're back to playing the board game.