From ’80s fridge to a brightly coloured message station

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Screen Shot 2013-07-30 at 3.46.15 PMHomie Cheryl Hellcat is just killing it with craftiness — Lord of the Rings table, driftwood key rack, and bird feeders and baths made from plates. Now let’s all ogle the fridge make-over that she uploaded to our Offbeat Home Flickr pool

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Our kitchen fridge went from ’80s fridge to a brightly coloured message station. I painted over the old ugly white-yellowish thing with chalkboard paint from Home Depot — you pick your colour and they mix it.

It’s so perfect for writing messages to each other in the morning, reminders or grocery lists and my nieces and nephews love drawing on it when they come to visit.

Screen Shot 2013-07-30 at 3.58.54 PMAnd look how lovely it looks in her turquoise kitchen!

So, what color chalkboard paint fridge are you going to make now?

Comments on From ’80s fridge to a brightly coloured message station

  1. Oooooh, good idea! I’m tempted to paint our secondary fridge in the garage now. Btw, love how the red looks against the teal walls. That’s my fav color scheme.

    Did you have to do any prep before painting it? Like sanding or primer?

    • I did some very light sanding all over, just to give the paint something to stick to a little bit better. It took quite a few coats of paint to get it looking how I wanted it but it was worth it!

  2. Love it!!! Anyone think this can be done on a more 90’s style that has the bumpy texture? I feel like it would take a lot to get it smooth.

    • Not sure about painting, but my hideous apartment fridge has that bumpy sort of texture, I covered it with roughly 3 rolls of dollar store contact paper (I used a black and white floral print). You could potentially try that route (plus, no damage so you can change it up!)

    • If you want to invest, try putting on 1-2 layers of primer before painting using a paintbrush, rather than a roller. It will even out the surface (some) and have the bonus of making your paint last forever.

  3. What a cool idea!

    I didn’t know you could get chalkboard paint in colors other than the traditional chalkboard ones (black and green). Good to know that that kind of paint can be mixed in different colors.

    • The brand I got was Rustoleum, and on the box it had a bunch of different colours that you could choose. I’ve seen tutorials floating around Pinterest on making your own chalkboard paint but I didn’t have the patience to try!

  4. That looks so great! I love the turquoise with the red fridge, so fun!

    I would love to know if it’s possible to do this with dry erase? I have a bunch of dry erase markers that I would love to use to doodle all over my fridge. I’m tempted to try it right now, but I don’t know if it will come off… maybe I’ll try on the back haha.

    • Your standard smooth surfaced whiteware takes a dry erase marker no problems. Get good markers though, and use whiteboard cleaner/ ethanol regularly. We had a very smeary brand once and had to use the ‘fresh marker over old’ trick to get it off, even after I had already erased and ethanol-ed.

  5. Love this!

    Me an the hubby did something similar. Got an old, grungy looking fridge from his cousin that came with the trailer. Since I was doing a black and teal kitchen with silver accents, we spray-painted it this glossy black and it literally looks like a brand-new fridge! its amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do with literally anything. lol

  6. We inherited the ugliest (and biggest) fridge in America, and since we can’t afford a new one for a while, this gives me hope. My kitchen also has bluish-tealish-aquaish walls, so I may steal your color choice too. 😉

  7. My brain is still reeling from the knowledge that that chalkboard paint can be mixed to different colors! I wish I’d known than when we were setting up my son’s room, he loves his chalkboard wall but I do wish it wasn’t a giant black wall sometimes!

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