A few weeks ago, Jerry took one of the shelves out of the fridge to wash off a spill, and evidently ran the cold glass under hot water or something, ’cause it shattered in his hands.
Thank goodness he wasn’t cut!
But… what to do about that shelf?
I figured it would cost a fortune to replace, so I asked him to do this instead…
Yes my friends. That’s OSB.
And it works brilliantly.
Now I realize there are those who would balk at doing such a thing. Wood? In your fridge? The audacity!
But you know what? I’m proud of my wooden shelf. (Hence, showing it to the world.) You know why? Because it is yet another way of perfectly demonstrating how we all can learn to improvise and be resourceful as opposed to depending on somebody else to fix our problems.
And it was free.
Please feel free to use my wooden fridge shelf as a metaphor for whatever is “broken” around your home. What projects do you have… what broken things need fixing… what is something you’ve been wanting to do but don’t have the money to do?
And how can you either: a) fix them with something you have already, or b) learn to live without them?
This is Great Depression Era thinking people. And I have a feeling we’d better start embracing it!
Oh, by the way. I called the repair guy this morning, out of sheer curiosity. Turns out the glass would only cost $13.59 to replace. Even still, I’ll keep my wooden shelf for the time being, thank you.
I’d love to hear how you’ve improvised around your home to save a few bucks!
A city girl learning to homestead on an acre of land in the country. Wife and homeschooling mother of four. Enjoying life, and everything that has to do with self sufficient living.
My son’s brace to the shelf in his freezer broke. Girl that man screwed a piece of 2×4 in it’s place. Hey it works and he’s not complaining , though I had to laugh.
We had the big shelf at the bottom of the frig break. We replaced it with 2 pieces of plexaglass. The wood absorbs water and odors.
I wanted to add another reason to paint the wood – clean up. So many things leak, spill, etc. that you wouldn’t want that stuff to soak into the wood and get nasty. I’d use Kilz or some kind of oil based paint so the humidity of the fridge wouldn’t affect it so much.
If you get custom glass, I’d recommend tempered glass.
i had to laugh! my fridge looks exactly the same way!!!!!
This is fantastic!
My whirlpool fridge has a default in it…the piece framing the glass cracks easily …and I’ve lost one glass shelf already. Of course this happened after the warranty ran out.
I’ll have to give this some thought…I’d paint the OSB also because it can be toxic…but otherwise a great idea.
Love frugal ‘great depression era’ thinking!
Love the ingenuity! but from experience buy the glass now if you plan too! I did the same thing once in a rental house. I put off buying a new glass, even though it was only $15 until it was time to move out. I figured, I’d replace the glass and the price had gone up to about $75. Just a little food for thought!
Love this 🙂 You crack me up girl.
My husband is a contractor and said the same thing. OSB is treated with toxic chemicals, to stand up to harsh weather. But, I LOVE the ingenuity. See if you have a scrap of some sort of solid wood laying around. If/when you get around to replacing the glass, try a glass shop or window shop. My husband frequently has to have glass custom cut for jobs and you would be surprised how inexpensive. The glass for a large 11×14 frame was $3 custom cut, as I did not need it to be low like a window. LOVE you blog.
Thank you Lori and Charlotte…
You know, I thought about that. I know OSB sometimes is treated with formaldehyde. But after reading several articles online, they all said that OSB gives off a very low level of emissions; much less than some of the other types of wood used in construction of homes. Thank you for the tip on custom glass, Lori 🙂 Maybe I’ll look into that soon.
I love that you used the board, I would have too. MY other half said it need to be painted it first OSB can give off a bad fumes that may get into your food and make you sick. I would so hate for your family to get sick for something you may not know or thought of. I would miss all your great post.