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Home › Our houses › The Victorian

Easy and cheap DIY fridge coaster

September 18, 2012by Christina
Last week, I saw a project on Pinterest that I had to try: DIY fridge coasters (the original project done by It’s Organized Chaos). Naturally, the first place I thought to get plastic placemats from was IKEA.  They are always adorable and they only cost $3 for 4 placemats.  I picked up 2 four packs […]

Last week, I saw a project on Pinterest that I had to try: DIY fridge coasters (the original project done by It’s Organized Chaos).

DIY inexpensive fridge coasters by Little Victorian

Naturally, the first place I thought to get plastic placemats from was IKEA.  They are always adorable and they only cost $3 for 4 placemats.  I picked up 2 four packs of complimenting patterns.

IKEA plastic placemats by Little Victorian

You could easily cover all of the shelves in your refrigerator with these placemats turned coasters, but I was mostly concerned with the door bins.  We purchased our fridge new less than two years ago, but the bins are already really scratched up from the containers that sit in them.  Once they are scratched, spilled liquids settle in the grooves and stain.  Ugly, and hard to clean.

Here is one way to turn placemats into fridge coasters:

First flip over your bin.  If your plastic placemats are see-through as mine were, place one on top of the up-side-down bin.  (If your placemats are opaque, you’ll need to use tracing paper to make a template.)

Trace the outline of your bin onto the placemat.

making fridge coasters from placemats by Little Victorian

Cut out along your outline.  Test fit your new bin coaster.  Mine took lots of additional trimming to get it to fit just right, but once it fits (assuming all of your bins are the same size), you can use the finished coaster as a template for the rest.

how to make fridge coasters from placemats by Little Victorian

Trace the pattern from the finished coaster onto a fresh placemat.  To save time, I used binder clips to hold two placemats together so I would only cut once and have two more coasters.  It is harder to cut through, but it was worth it for me.  Be sure to use binder clips if you try two at once though, as the placemats really like to slide around.

making fridge coasters from plastic placemats by Little Victorian

And here is the finished product in action:

how to make fridge coasters from IKEA placemats by Little Victorian

No more new scratches!  And if something dribbles, we only have to clean the coaster, not take out the whole bin.

To cover the 6 bins in my fridge, it only took 3 placemats.  I paid $6, but I have 5 placemats left to do other projects with, or I suppose I could actually use them as placemats.

 

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About Christina

I'm a full-time web developer with a dog sitting business, home renovations, and a blog on the side.

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  1. Rita Lowery

    I love this idea and I may even carry it over to the glass shelves that I slave over for one little tea spill to ruin the hard work. I don’t have an IKEA here but I am sure I could find what I need at Wal-Mart (basically the only place we have for something like that). Love your ideas! Keep them coming! 😛 Have a great FOT!

    Reply
    • Christina

      Thank you very much, Rita, that’s very nice to hear! You have a great FOT too! 🙂

  2. onshore

    The bird placemat is my favourite. Everytime I visit Ikea I almost buy that bird tray, but just almost, I have enough trays.
    But love this idea, you might even be able to pop these in the dishwasher if they got really dirty.

    Reply
    • Christina

      Aren’t they cute? I’m trying to think of other ways to use them so they will be on display. Maybe you could replace one of your trays with the bird one? It’s certainly affordable.

  3. Krista

    Love this idea Christina! I don’t have an IKEA store by me, however, make some road trips every now and then with some of my friends. I will be adding these to my ‘want’ list. Love the birds! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Christina.

Little Victorian is your place for inspiration, education, and encouragement for how to be your own interior designer and decorator, and how to carry out your big plans yourself too.

It starts with psychology, then artistry, and ends with power tools. None of those are scary, and you really can do it.

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