Not too long ago, I saw a picture of a normally boring white fridge with some nice zippy chevron stripes. I was so jealous, and knew that I had to do something to my fridge.
First, I had to find a pattern. I wanted it to be one that I could cut out pieces and then use the reverse pieces on the other side of the fridge, essentially making the two sides opposites of each other.
I found this bag in the dollar bin at a craft store. Then I took it to a copy store and blew it up 200% onto 11×17 paper. I printed off about 25 of these and taped them together to equal the size of my fridge.
This was actually the biggest pain in the butt because I had to hodge-podge all the pieces together to create a nice rectangle. Taping together enough pieces for one whole side of the fridge was a lot of paper and tape, I am sure there’s an easier method to this somewhere out in the world. I laid the pieces over my sunny yellow contact paper, holding them together with a few staples. Then, the cutting began…
I started out with scissors and a kitchen knife. I wanted the white parts intact, so I would have to poke a hole in the black parts to cut out the pieces. This was a huge headache and time-consuming. I eventually upgraded to a cutting pad thing and rotary knife.
Then it was time to apply the yellow contact paper pieces to the fridge. I used some of the paper to make sure I lined up the pieces on the fridge correctly.
I had intended to do the whole fridge, but ended up quitting halfway because I did not take into account that the design I chose was a bit beyond my time, patience, or mental allowance. Also, having a two-year-old, and newly-crawling seven-month-old made the project twice as hard as it normally would be — having to continually hide sharp tools/remove scraps of paper from baby’s mouth/keep my two-year-old from gleefully shredding my project proved a bit of a challenge. I ended up quitting halfway through, but I actually think the project is better for it! Plus, I rationalized my young kids would mess with it if I put it too low to the ground anyway.
Now the trash can is next…
That looks badass! And I love that its only halfway, if you hadn’t said it was unintentional I would have just figured you were way more creative than I am.
Great idea! I used those removable wall decal stickers on mine. I have a birdcage hanging down from the top and little birds flying all over it. I then used the left over clear plastic on the fridge to put behind the handle to stop the paint rubbing off like it does over time in high use areas.
I never thought of those decals! Those would have been perfect, lol. We are renters but actually own the fridge (pretty normal for SoCal) which is the only reason I went with such a complicated pattern. But those decals would be sweet!
There are renters that don’t own the fridge? Unless you rent fully furnished, here in Australia and where I am the majority are unfurnished owning your own fridge is normal.
Most rentals in the US include refrigerators.
I admire your patience through this! I would have lost my mind after the first few cuts I think. I do love that pop of yellow though. It’s my new fav.
This looks so cool! It’s great that you didn’t go all the way down. My almost 3-year-old would LOVE peeling something like that off. Your kids would have ruined your hard work in no time. 🙂
Lol, yep, that’s what I figured too. I think it would have been too busy anyway, but I love how it turned out. Dang kids…
I foresee this happening to my washer and dryer…
This is such a cool idea!!!! I just got a new rental apartment and am looking for ways to make my fridge un-boring as well. I don’t have much experience with contact paper, and since I do not own the fridge, would the contact paper be able to peel off without damaging the surface when it is time to move out? Thanks!