Transform Dollar Tree Finds Into Whimsical Cottagecore Frames For A Cozy Fridge Makeover

Cottagecore decor can easily be personalized. Case in point — sweet and whimsical wooden picture frames, filled with family photos that you stick on your fridge, made from items found at your local Dollar Tree. And more importantly, with its little hand-painted wooden mushrooms and down-to-earth mossy accents, it is about as quaint as your kitchen fridge decor can get.

You'll work with the Dollar Tree's Special Moments Wooden Beaded Photo Frames for this project. The outside measurement of the frames is approximately 6 inches by 8 inches, while the interior holds 4-inch by 6-inch photos. Keep those dimensions in mind if you're using this project to build a mini photo gallery on your fridge. If you're still not sure how many photos will fit comfortably in the space, you can always do a mock-up of your photos in a program like Canva to help you plan. Crafters Square Wooden Mini Mushrooms bring a common cottagecore decorating motif, pretty fungi, to your frames. Natural elements from your yard, like decorative moss, also work with this DIY.

As is, both the frame and the mushrooms are plain: You'll put the crafty back in this craft by painting both. For that task, you'll need some acrylic paint and small paint brushes. You'll additionally require some button magnets. Finally, you'll assemble the disparate parts of this DIY together with your glue gun.

Depending on your design tastes, this Dollar Tree DIY could require quite a bit of painting. Since the painted parts will need to dry before you can assemble the cottagecore frames, start your work on this project in the paint department, so to speak. In the natural world, there are a number of really beautiful mushrooms, like the red and white speckled Amanita muscaria and the cornflower blue Entoloma hochstetteri. If you're looking for some inspiration when you're ready to paint the mushrooms, these are great places to start.

As for the frames, they're already quite visually interesting due to the beaded motif on the front of them. Leaving them plain would align with the sometimes rustic and plain woods that influence the cottagecore aesthetic. Or you could go in the opposite direction and use the beads on the frame as an excuse to introduce whimsical elements, like polka dots, into your decorative motif. To do this, paint dot patterns, like red on one bead, white on the next. This approach gives a nod to the wholesome fun that cottagecore is known for. 

Once the painting steps are done, glue the decorative elements, like the moss and mushrooms, onto the front of the frames. Finally, glue at least two Jot Translucent Button Magnets onto the back of each of your frames, on opposite corners, for example. This should ensure they stay on the fridge. Then, fill the frames with your photos and decorate your fridge.

Because of the miniature elements, like the mushrooms, this piece is already way adorable. However, there are some other ways you could make the frames useful in your day-to-day kitchen chores. While outdoorsy items, like wood, moss, and pine cones play a big role in this style, you're not limited to those elements.

Vintage items are also big for this look. Although the frames are small, there are still fun-sized decorations, like antique or vintage keys, miniature antique book or teacup replicas, and dried flowers, you could glue to the DT frames to dress them up. Those types of minis are also simple ways to introduce some of the visual details found in cottagecore-style rooms, but in a smaller format.

The other step you can take to make the design more aligned with the analog nature of cottagecore is to make the frames practical instead of just pretty. For example, put away your tablet or phone and the recipe apps. Pull out your grandma's old recipe cards filled with her flowing cursive script and insert those into the frames in place of your photos. Or design your own recipe cards for six or eight of the recipes you make most often and put them into the frames. Decorate those with the same visual motifs you used on the frames. These small touches make this Dollar Tree retro cottagecore kitchen decor DIY more visually cohesive, all while making the frames useful, too.