DIY Cover Up for an Ugly Fridge

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a very successful DIY’er. For many reasons - not the least of which is that I am legally barred from owning power tools in 35 states and The Virgin Islands. OK that’s not true, it’s only 5 states, but my wife tells me it should be all of them. Probably one of the largest incentives for the average DIY inclined individual is the idea that a little elbow grease translates into a lot of money saved. I have almost never found this to be the case. In fact, I usually end up spending more on making something than I would have if I had just gone and bought it. But not this time…this time I managed to pull off the DIY hat trick: cheap, easy, and quick. Ok, not really quick, but not too time consuming.

I saw this idea on Apartment Therapy a while back and thought, “I have to try this!” 

It’s actually pretty simple. I don't have any pics of the actual process itself. That requires like, planning. And foresight and stuff. Sha! Leave me alone.

Step 1.  Buy a roll or two of Contact shelf paper that's adhesive on the back. Choose your colors and patterns wisely. There are a lot more options of both available online.

Step 2.   Pick out a pattern and make a stencil for one of the repeats. Remember that you'll be cutting this out until your hand goes Evil Dead on you, so again, choose wisely. I went with a simple scallop design that I felt integrated well into my Alice in Wonderland inspired kids area in my kitchen.

Step 3.  Cut out the pattern. Repeat. Many, many, many times. Then do it some more. I started out using an Xacto knife, but switched to scissors pretty quickly. What you use will depend on your pattern to a certain extent.

Step 4.  Start peelin’ and stickin’. This is the really tedious part because you have to just go slowly. Stand back and look every few minutes to make sure that the pattern is equally spaced. Mine started getting away from me about half way through and looked kind of cock-eyed, but I was able to adjust it a bit.

 I added a framed out chalkboard to the side of it for the kids to use and for the occasional grocery list and Voila!:

There you go, for about $6, you can radically transform your great white (or black) kitchen elephant into a chic conversation piece. I did this last summer and it's held up very well. None of the pieces have peeled and it still looks neat. This is the perfect solution for me until I can start my kitchen remodel!