Home » Crafty » D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers

Some people pour their heart into every single word they write, so that by the time you reach the signature on the first correspondence you’ve ever shared, you’re old friends. Stef is one of those people. And I know she is going to work her way into your heart, too, especially when you get hit with her out-of-the-box creativity today! The Space Jam soundtrack said it best: “Y’all ready for this?”

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I am beyond delighted for the opportunity to say hello to all of you wonderful Thinking Closet readers today! My name is Stef, and I blog over at Frumpy Bumpkin Designs, a place where paint-stained britches & sassy craft-making are highly encouraged. SO happy to be in such good company as Lauren is one of my favorite bloggers with the sweetest of hearts. Pretty sure we all share a mutual BFF and should exchange bracelets and complicated handshakes ASAP!

portrait

My idea today was inspired by Lauren’s Menu Planner To Rule Them All in all of its magnetic, organizing glory! This sweet gem will make life so much easier once the kids are back in school, so I need to get a move on making my own!

The Menu Planner to Rule Them All in all of its magnetic, organizing glory!

In light of the fast-approaching school year, I thought it would be fun to share an organization idea incorporating a fridge magnet, wooden pallet crate, and some down-right purdy personalization.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge and display kids' artwork!

My favorite part of this project was making up old, crate-worthy companies using the names of our kiddos.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge and display kids' artwork!

By adding some of IKEA’s Dignitet Curtain Clips, we are able to clip artwork to the front.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge and display kids' artwork!

Are you ready for the how-to? SO exciting!

SUPPLIES

TUTORIAL

  • Begin by gathering your plywood, carpenter’s square & a pencil to get started with your measurements. Here is a breakdown of what you will need to measure out for cutting:

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • After you have cut out all 8 of your pieces. you’ll want to give each piece a nice sanding around the edges. Run a strip of glue along the sides and bottom of your 10″x12″ board and attach the side and bottom pieces as seen below.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • You can apply clamps at this stage to be sure you are getting a good seal. After the glue has dried, I recommend deciding if you are going to paint or possibly just stain your crate and covering these pieces with whatever finish you are doing (from experience, it’s hard to paint in the cracks once your cross pieces are glued on). Once that finish is dry, go ahead and glue on your cross pieces, using clamps to hold it all together.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • Once dried, apply the same finish to the cross pieces before moving on to lettering.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • It feels like there are a gazillion ways to do lettering…who has a round-up on that? I say that because my way is not necessarily the easiest, I’ve just done it so many times and am too set in my ways to try anything else.  {Smile.}  It starts by creating how you want your sign to look on a Word document and once you are happy with it, printing it out on regular paper.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • You can find *graphite paper at most art supply stores. I use black graphite paper for dark lettering on a light-colored surface and white graphite paper for lighter color letters on a dark surface. These are fabulous because you can use them over, and over, and over again. Position your printed-out letters where you want them on your wood surface and tape them down. Slide the graphite paper underneath with the dark side facing the wood.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • Trace the letters with a somewhat-pointy pen. You can check to make sure it’s transferring by carefully lifting up a corner, being sure not to move your tape. Once you’ve finished tracing your letters, it should look something like this:

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • You can then paint in your letters with your paint of choice.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • Time for some waxing! Apply small amounts of your clear furniture wax with a towel. You’ll then want to buff the wax with a clean cloth to make sure it sets.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • Once you have applied and buffed your wax, you can use your sandpaper to distress the surface. I do a very soft sand on the letters and go for the edges with a little more gusto, being sure to go the direction of the wood grain.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • Once finished, guess what time it is? Oh, you are good. Bring on the wax again! Repeat the waxing process we discussed previously.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • I wanted to add some color to my crates, but didn’t want it to be too overpowering. A coat of colored wax totally did the trick! I didn’t have the colors of chalk paint I wanted, nor did I want to make any, so I experimented by mixing 2 teaspoons of acrylic paint to a tablespoon of clear wax. This worked great!

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • Using a paper towel, scoop up a bit of your mixture and rub it on your wood surface, exactly like you did the waxing before but keeping in mind you have control as to how much you rub off and how much you leave on.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • The surface of the wood should start to take in the color nicely.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • Again, the hardest part of the process was painting through the “cracks” of the crate so if you can finish the interior before gluing on the cross pieces, that would be ideal. I topped my wax surface with a little Minwax Provincial stain (brush on a little and quickly rub off with a towel) for an antiqued look.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

Was I happy with the results? Oh, you betcha. Absolutely happy!

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • Now for the part you have all been waiting for. How the heck to make that heavy thing stick to the fridge!! Avoid my trials and tribulations, and skip the regular magnets and even the “stronger” smaller magnets, and go straight to this guy (found at Lowe’s):

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • Holds 9 lbs.? Fantastic!! But what about that pesky hook that we have no need for? Great news…it unscrews!!

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • I marked the spot on the back of the crate where the circular nut on the magnet could fit into and drilled a hole using a matching-sized drill bit.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge!

  • To Make the IKEA curtain clips rest on the edge of the crate, I used pliers to open up the back a bit, just so it was wide enough to fit over the edge.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge and display kids' artwork!

VOILA!

The kids love having a special place to put their papers and hang their artwork.

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge and display kids' artwork!

And there you have it! A big thank you to sweet Lauren for the opportunity to share an idea today…this was so much fun to put together!

D.I.Y. Mini-Pallet Fridge Organizers. Such a creative and thorough step-by-step tutorial for creating your own personalized mini-pallet crates to help organize those school papers on the fridge and display kids' artwork!

Would love to hear what you think! Please stop by and visit anytime to check out more D.I.Y. projects, including ones like this Chandelier Bird Feeder made with plastic clothes hangers…

bird feeder2

or check out how to make a Pallet Wreath like this one…

Pallet Wreath

Wishing you all the best!

Signature 2

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9 Comments

  1. Just pinned this project…now to get a circular saw! 🙂
    My favorite part was your favorite part…you making up the old, crate-worthy companies using the names of your kiddos.

    Will have to take a peak at your blog site as that chandelier bird-feeder is amazing!
    Thanks for sharing this great idea here at the Thinking Closet!

    1. Yay!! Thanks, Breanna! So many of the things I try are on the epic craft fail list so I was pretty happy this one turned out! 🙂 Love your furniture transformations – you do beautiful work!!

    1. Aww, thanks Kirsten!! On my way to check out your site as well! Really appreciate such sweet feedback and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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