DEBORAH CROMBIE: Isn't my granddaughter's latest piece of artwork lovely? I took down some earlier paintings and carefully placed this one in pride of place on my refrigerator, along with my precious limited edition London Transport magnets, and that got me thinking about where people displayed treasures like this if their fridges were no longer magnetic. (Wren made this beautiful print in art camp, by the way!)
So I am low brow, and happy with it, although I have to admit our fridge is tucked away in a corner of the kitchen so you don't see it until you walk into the room.
How about it, dear Reds? Is your fridge still a display space? And if not, where do you put your latest kids/grandkids/dogs/cats etc. pics, your lists and notes and reminders?
HALLIE EPHRON: My fridge is white (my stove is white, too) - and it is festooned with pictures of my grands and their drawings and slips of paper with a reminder to myself of things I’m likely to forget… and I love it just the way it is.
RHYS BOWEN: I have a stainless steel fridge and it is magnetic. I have photos, appointments, phone numbers on it.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: High. Lowbrow. Love it. With WAY too many things. Sometimes I think–I’m going to take all this down! But how can I? Here’s the very first article ever about writer-me, and some duck feathers, and blue jay feathers, and the baby children’s photos and notes. And some other very important stuff. (Our stove is new and black, but our oven is brick red.) This is just the upper right, by the way.
How about you, readers? Tell us about your fridge art, or lack thereof. It's too bad that Blogger won't allow photos in the comments, but I will post the blog link on our Reds and Readers page and you can post photos there!
I wouldn't want to have a refrigerator that wasn't magnetic! Grandbabies' art, magnets, recipe notes . . . my refrigerator is like a bulletin board . . . and I like it that way. [Wren's art is lovely; all the baby and family photos are so precious . . . .]
ReplyDeleteThanks you, Joan!
DeleteI used to have our refrigerator covered with magnets from trips, but in a moment of wanting to clear some clutter, I let my daughter talk me into taking much of it down. However, she didn't get me to throw them away. I have them stored in a plastic tub. I still have some location magnets and somes pics and a card or two, but the numbers are way down. Oh, and don't forget the sides of the refrigerator, too. And, of course, when the kids and grands were little, I always displayed their art on the refrigerator front.
ReplyDeleteYou have a fresh slate, Kathy!
DeleteCount me in the Low Brow club! We have the baby pictures and magnets and kiddo art, plus the ongoing grocery list that gets added to throughout the week and then started over after a trip to the market.
ReplyDeleteAnd you have that gorgeous baby to display, Edith!
DeleteI have a white LG fridge. More than a dozen of the magnets are mystery fiction author swag that I won during giveaways or picked up at various LCC or Bouchercons.
ReplyDeleteA few authors are on my fridge 2 or 3 places: Ellen Byron (queen of swag) and Libby Klein.
The magnets hold boring stuff: handwritten list of items in my freezer, cheeses in my top fridge drawer, property management contact list, City of Ottawa garbage/recyclable rules.
You're very organized, Grace!
DeleteNot surprising with my Type A planner personality!
DeleteI just posted 2 photos on the Reds and Readers FB post.
We replaced our 10 year old refrigerator yesterday and the first thing I did after putting food and frozen items in was to arrange my scaled down magnet collection on the doors. I have a calendar, a little white board and two photos of my happy places in England on there also. I use the sides for magnetic pictures of the grands.
ReplyDeleteI have a magnet with a photo of Castle Coombe, the village that is the cover of A Bitter Feast!
DeleteI have a few magnets that I received from conventions.
ReplyDeleteThe sturdy Dru's Book Musings clip magnet is on the side of my fridge, facing the oven. It holds useful jar openers I got from Kellye Garrett & Daryl Wood Gerber.
DeleteNon-magnetic stainless for me, but did you know the sides are still magnetic. The side that faces the stove is jammed with recipes in the works, shopping lists, and funny magnets to hold more recipes. The far side that faces the kitchen door holds all multiple magnets and memories. It's all good
ReplyDeleteI am part of the low brow club. My fridge has pictures of my grandchildren and
ReplyDeletemagnets from several of our holiday places and I like it that way!
Dianne Mahoney
My refrigerator is probably 30 years old. It is festooned with photos of children, grandchildren and even a drawing my 42 yr-old son made at age 3, held on by magnets from every nature organization that sends them out. When I was a realtor, I instructed clients to clear that stuff off before putting their homes on the market. You know that makes sense but boy, that was always a tough nut to swallow.
ReplyDeleteLow brow here. Photos. Magnets. Important things I don't want to lose -- a cheque to deposit, for example. What else is the front of fridge for???
ReplyDeleteOh, and also: We hang our tea towels from magnets on the fridge door, too.
DeleteThat's a great idea, Amanda.
DeleteThe refrigerator is decorated here, always has been. Most of it is my mother's stuff. Magnets from different places or funny sayings. Oh, and measurement conversions too, which comes in handy if I ever decide to cook anything that requires ingredients I have to measure. And laundry magnets that also come in handy. (My mother was apparently unknowingly preparing for when she wasn't here anymore).
ReplyDeleteBut I did add a few things over the years:
There's a logo magnet for the old Hartford Whalers hockey team.
And Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day magnet.
A James Ziskin book promo magnet.
A magnet my friend Ann gave me that says "Apparently I have an attitude. Who F***king Knew?"
A Metal Blade Records magnet.
And a magnet from Classic Rock Magazine that is a bunch of random words associated with the band Led Zeppelin and/or their lyrics. The idea was to break up the magnet to arrange words however you wanted. But I have just left it intact.
I also have an article about dealing with debt collectors that I saved from when my mom passed away. And a very recent article about what you can do (or more likely not do) if you have open permits for work that was done on your house in the past. It's a pain and likely unresolvable.
And a recipe for the world's best blueberry muffins and my Aunt Donna's chicken dish that I love so much.
I love that you've saved your mom's magnets, Jay.
DeleteI love Ann's magnet and am honored you display mine!
DeleteDeborah, most of the displays/decorations my mom had up are still up to this day. I feel no particular urge to take them down since it would mean extra work for me and I'm way too lazy to do that. Plus, they aren't hurting anything so why take them down?
DeleteEdith, of course I display your magnet!
I buy magnets of museum artwork when we travel--unicorn tapestries, Egyptian mummies, and Van Gogh sunflowers. For seventeen years, the magnets decorated the dishwasher because the stainless fridge was non-magnetic. The situation changed last fall when I acquired a new fridge and happily festooned it with family photos and art magnets.
ReplyDeleteI get the sense that the non-magnetic finishes are going out of style. Yay!
DeleteUp until our 23 year old refrigerator conked out in May, we had white fridge and dishwasher. The microwave and stove had been replaced with stainless previously…not because the white ones didn’t work, but because my husband the baker man wanted a double oven.
ReplyDeleteThe white fridge was covered front and one side with assorted magnets holding a variety of photos and items. The new stainless steel fridge is top rated by Consumer Reports and it is magnetic. It has remained pristine (including wiping the tiniest smudge off every time I walk by!) because our house is on the market and has been stripped bare of personal items.
Aw, that's so hard, Brenda. I shudder to think of what it would take to strip ours...
DeleteI miss the days when my fridge was covered in art! The Hooligans kept it a rotating gallery of awesome. I’m in our cottage in Nova Scotia right now so no fridge art to share. I guess I have to wait for some grands!
ReplyDeleteOur fridge is not magnetic. Sob! But I have a 26" x 20" corkboard on the wall in the kitchen for art postcards, cartoons, reminders, and things like a chart about how much hard cheese I have to eat a day to get enough calcium (= a ludicrous amount!) Gift drawings by the 5- and 8-year-olds who live upstairs and visit us several times a week to "play" with one or the other of us, are taped to the wooden door frame in my office. We can't wait for grandchildren, but since our son (31) shows no signs of wanting to settle down, we are very lucky to have our small friends upstairs.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to have "borrowed" children, Kim. I am always asking Wren to make or paint me something. Which reminds me I have to make sure she sees her work displayed on the blog!
DeleteI too have an old fridge.. It was here when I bought the house in 2003, still going strong! I have some lovely magnets--the Redwoods, Antelope Canyon, golden retrievers, and pictures of my son and my niece when they were small.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of quotes--one is on a bookmark that was given out when our longtime priest retired. His catch phrase was, "Never resist a generous impulse." The other is from Barbara Kingsolver, "What I want is so simple, I almost can't say it. Elementary kindness. Enough to eat, enough to go around. The possibility that children grow up to be neither the destroyers nor the destroyed."
The largest item on my fridge is a picture postcard from the art display "Graced with Light" when artist Anne Patterson hung colored ribbons in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in 2013. My son and I took the train down to see it. Amazingly beautiful!
Love the quotes, Gillian. Maybe I need to put up some special words, too.
DeleteLove looking at other people's refrigerators, and what they choose to keep on them.
ReplyDeleteOurs is 5 years old now, and the first stainless fridge we've had, but it is magnetic. The one thing we always have on it is Steve's "feathered friends" calendar with photos of a different bird every month. (The Maslowski family has provided the photos for this calendar now for more than 50 years, and have commitments to keep doing so through 2030.) I may not always update the calendar on my phone, but the one of the fridge is always up to date. And harder to ignore!
I have also collected magnets from art museums, and for the most part they are holding up a photo of us with my grandson at his high school graduation, and some reminders. There was a lot more on it, but I cleared out all kinds of outdated coupons and stuff recently.
Oh, and the magnetic sides are covered by the cabinet ends, but I do keep a couple things slid in sideways, like the useful flipchart of substitutions and measurement equivalents. Very handy.
DeleteKaren, I am enjoying Steve's calendar so much! I have it upstairs in my office but it hadn't occured to me to put it on the fridge! Might need heavier magnets.
DeleteIt does take a heavy duty clip magnet. Two would be even better.
DeleteWe have the 2025 calendars, so if any of the Reds want one, send me your address in private.
I love my copy of Steve's calendar! It hangs from a nail on a door in our sitting room and is where we both write birthdays and appointments we want to remember.
DeleteWell, I’m sorry to say that my fridge is much less fun than yours.
ReplyDeleteI love all your fridge’s magnets, photos, mémentos and art. Wren’s art is very beautiful.
I have no grandchildren and it won’t happen now that my daughter is almost fifty.
I had magnets from travels on my fridge’s door before I had to change it two years ago. I transferred them on my file cabinet in my study.
One magnet returned to expose exercise sheets to do at least three times a week. I placed them on the side to avoid seeing them too often and feeling guilty . It doesn’t work very well.
You inspired me to change my approach to something more inspiring and joyful :)
Danielle
You need to see those excercise sheets, Danielle! And put something joyful up as well!
DeleteDidn’t know about non magnetic stainless until I owned one! Now I rather like the No magnet look. I do have all of Jim Ziskin’s book magnets down one side with grandchildren’s school pictures but that’s it.
ReplyDeleteOn another happy note in this happiest of weeks in forever, my only granddaughter and her spouse and Baby Samuel, almost six months, arrive within the hour. All the cooking is done except for the strawberry rhubarb pie that’s in the oven. I’m over the moon!
Enjoy your very special company, Ann!
DeleteHave a wonderful visit, Ann!!!
DeleteAnn: Enjoy! And take pictures and post them on your fridge!!
DeleteThat was me, Hallie
DeleteI can smell that pie from here, Ann! Have a great visit with your granddaughter, her spouse, and baby Samuel!
DeleteCurse you, blogger! That was Flora, above!
DeleteHave a glorious visit, Ann!
DeleteThank you all. It’s wunnerful
DeleteAnn, thank you for your support. Sounds like you are going to have wonderful company.😊
DeleteWhat a fun blog this is today! I love that folks are still attaching their family photos, special effects, schedules and magnets to their refrigerators. My stainless steel fridge front is non-magnetic except for the sides which are hidden within a slip-in cabinet. So instead I have a mini-office tucked into a cozy corner of the kitchen...a small Ethan Allen home desk in muted yellow (when they used to offer fun custom paint colors), a petite vintage Vietri table lamp, white board and the most fun and personal item of all...a steel magnetic wall message board where I can place my "refrigerator front items"...photos, paint chip color samples, special business cards and notes that hold special memories, etc. It's so easy to change out allthough I rarely do because its display has become so meaningful on its own. I feel as if the sentimental attachments we love to display on our fridges or wall boards is a wonderful way of openly displaying our own loving hearts and souls and who we are as individuals. P.S. I covet Hank Phillippi Ryan's red stove (red being my favorite color). I also love that she tucked a small fortune cookie message behind one of her fridge treasures. I have kept six fortune cookie messages over the years one of which I especially love to read when I need a chuckle ~ "Next time order the shrimp." :)
ReplyDeleteI've kept fortune cookie messages on the fridge, too! And I also covet Hank's red stove, although I don't think it would go in my kitchen.
DeleteSome of those fortune cookie messages are both uplifting and inspiring. If only our lives could play out as well as those divine messages. I can't believe that I just went online to look at Viking and Wolf red gas ranges. Such a fiery and creative color! Maybe you could redecorate your kitchen around a new red stove, Deborah. :)
DeleteDebs, having a red stove is reason enough to redo the kitchen decor to accommodate it!
DeleteWhen we moved Mom to Oregon, my sister and I divided her magnets up. Oh, we did toss a few that we didn't like. My sister did keep the magnets that had pictures of her kids.
ReplyDeleteMy fridge has recipes that have become traditions for family dinners but are only used once or twice a year, written by a special person in my life, found under the label of sour cherries. My magnets are mostly places I traveled to or through. Most definitely low brow. :)
What nice keepsakes from your mom!
DeleteMy fridge is boring, I'm afraid, mostly because it's not in my kitchen! My cupboards were built in the twenties or thirties, with just enough headroom for an icebox - not the synonym for a refrigerator, an actual ice box. Too short for even the simplest of modern fridges, even back in '94 when we moved in. Now, here was our dilemma: the east wall has all the cupboards, the sink and a window. The south wall has three doors: to the former dining room, to the cellar, and to the foyer. West wall has two large windows (nice!) The north wall has two doors: to the pantry and to the hall/laundry room AND the woodstove!
ReplyDeleteWhich is why we moved the washer and dryer upstairs (handier with the kids anyway) and put the fridge in their place, in a rather underlit, dismal pass-through space. The only magnets I have on it are numbers for local tradesmen and the times the transfer station a/k/a the dump are open.
Oh, awkward old houses with many doors, Julia! When we remodeled we took out the wall and the door between the kitchen and pantry (there was a lovely window in the pantry!) and that is now where the fridge lives. Then we took out the door from the kitchen into the sunporch so we could wrap our counters around that corner. So much more functional, although I do miss that pantry storage...
DeleteI think architects realize that pantries should have never disappeared from kitchen design and have brought them back. Whether walk-ins or butler style they are so functional and organized..No digging around in cabinets. We previously owned a home built in the 1920's. Aside from the quirky door widths...which were always a challenge for appliance or furniture deliveries...there was the ever reliable pantry. I loved that it housed our fridge and the open shelves provided me with an instant inventory of canned goods, etc. Plus there was plenty of counter space. When the day came for us to sell our 2-family home and downsize to condo living we went on the quest to find one that would meet our wish list ~ a garage, single floor living (no more stairs!), fireplace and "wouldn't it be nice if it had a pantry." My husband's brother and his wife are seasoned realtors and when they took us to see a new neighborhood of townhouses being built we did a walk through a single level portfolio condo with a garage, fireplace and to our very pleasant surprise...a walk-in pantry. I remember turning to the realtor managing the sale of these homes and saying to her ~ "Where do we sign?!"
DeleteLove seeing all of the Jungle Reds’ beautiful fridge art. My fridge art looks more like Hank’s. I have too many things on my fridge. Phone numbers. Wedding invitations. Photos. Magnets from my travels.
ReplyDeleteSorry, have been out dealing with emergencies all day.
DeleteDebs, hope all is well now. Love the fridge art on your fridge. Seeing children’s art on the fridge brings back memories of my childhood and my godchildren’s drawings.
DeleteAll the while when our kids were growing up and until a few years ago my fridge was covered with magnets and art. We recently got a new fridge and the doors aren’t as conducive to art postings so I have my magnetic grocery pad and a few very special magnets on there now.
ReplyDeleteI always thought I was Low Brow, and now it’s been confirmed!
ReplyDeleteMy white refrigerator (which was one hundred dollars cheaper than the identical one in stainless steel) is covered with magnets, photos, reminders, etc. Just this morning when I was making the coffee, I thought to myself that I need to get rid of some things. Which ones, though?
DebRo
The stainless steel fridge (new last summer when the old one gave up the ghost) is magnetic--thank heavens! Lowbrow and proud of it! And happy to see the company I keep! :-) Periodically replace some of grandnephew's artworks, and photos of family and friends, an oddment of magnets, appointments (vet and human), as well as various and sundry miscellanea cover the front and side of said fridge.
ReplyDeleteFlora, above
DeleteDue to a clumsy streak my refrigerator magnet collection has collided with the kitchen floor once too often and is down to two plus the hook magnet hanging my Health Information plastic bag. Sigh… miss the collection of creativity from the grands. My refrigerator is white. Stove and dishwasher stainless steel…redecorated during end of pandemic supply chain issues. Not much choice. Cheers, Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteWe are moving back into our newly remodeled house in a couple of weeks and will have all new appliances, including a stainless steel, non-magnetic refrigerator. It’s also in a slip-in cabinet so I can’t put our many magnets on the side if it is magnetic because I can’t access it. I’ve been thinking of buying, if such a thing exists, a piece of magnetic material to put on the exterior of the fridge cabinet wall to accommodate at least some of the magnets. (Ours are divided between magnets from travels and from plays/musicals we’ve seen. Son and wife have said they don’t know if they want kids - sob - so we might not get the chance to display any grandchildren’s art.) — Pat S
ReplyDeletePat, could you hang a cookie sheet (one without an edge) on the side? Elisabeth
DeletePat, thank you for your support. Maybe picture frames on bookshelves or on the mantle ?
DeleteThanks, Elisabeth and Diana! I’m mulling over ideas. If you go to the Reds & Readers page today, you’ll see how many I have to “re-house”!
DeleteWe're in an AirbnB in Rangeley Maine for a week or I'd post a pic of my fridge. Here the fridge door displays the house rules, anchored with a magnet that reads: Blackflies: Defenders of the Wilderness. LOL!
ReplyDeleteEdith, your AirBnB sounds like a lovely place to vacation. Have a great time!
ReplyDelete