My poor sweet refrigerator has been around the block. It was a hand me down from grandma and has worn the eye sore title in my kitchen for far too long. Don’t tell her, but I even went out looking for a new one. But, to my dismay found that they don’t even make those french doored beauties to fit my space. I didn’t realize how freakishly small my fridge space is. Alas, I decided that until I get the motivation to move two sets of cabinets to fit my dream fridge I may as well make the best of old Gerta and give her a makeover of sorts. Had I known how easy it would be I would have done this long ago! I present the chalkboard refrigerator.
I had seen a lot of refrigerator makeovers using epoxy or paint, etc. But, knowing that poor Gerta is on her last leg I did not want to spend hours moving her outside, doing multiple coats, and letting her dry for days. I needed something quick and this took me about 30 minutes. The secret ingredient? Vinyl.
Chalkboard Refrigerator
Here she is in her original almond colored glory.
I used the 12 inch Silhouette Chalkboard Vinyl. It was the perfect size to go on the front and wrap around the side of my refrigerator door.| 1. Measure how big your vinyl pieces need to be. Cut your vinyl accordingly leaving a little wiggle room. It’s better to trim a bit than have it be too small. |
2. Align the vinyl so it will reach the top and bottom, but also be flush to the door handle. Press it down by the handle first and work your way out smoothing out bubbles as you go. Wrap the vinyl around the side of the door by the hinges and trim off any excess.
At this point Gerta was a little reminiscent of Cruella, wouldn’t you say?
3. Grab a piece of patterned cardstock that will tie your two colors together. Cut it to the size of the ice panel, cover with clear contact paper to protect it and place with double sided sticky tape.
Ah, she’s already looking better!
4. Now finish it off priming the chalkboard by rubbing it all over with the side of a piece of chalk and erasing the excess. That way your first message won’t be everlasting. Now you’re ready to add your menu, message board, or whatever you want to say!
It’s amazing what you can do with 30 minutes and some vinyl!
Disclosure: Silhouette provided the vinyl for this post.
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Love it! I really want to add a chalk board to my kitchen!
This is awesome. I have this vinyl at home, havent touched it yet though and my fridge is not magnetic on the front so it is like wasted space- I am so doing this this week:)
Hugs,
Jen @ F5
I love the damask paper you chose to coordinate. Good idea on the “pantry” vinyl too. Even though there is only one door in my kitchen, I still have to point out where the pantry is.
This is amazing. I have this vinyl fabric at home, have not moved it yet though and my refrigerator is not attractive on the top side so it is like thrown away space.
What a great idea! Does the vinyl leave a sticky residue? I’d like to try, but we rent and our fridge belongs to our house, not us.
I love this. Such a great idea.
I love this idea!!! Darling 🙂
Such an awesome idea! It come out adorable.
Awesome idea! Such a great use of space!
What a sweet and creative idea!
! I really want to add a chalk board to my kitchen!
Very cool and I love the fact that you have named your old refrigerator “Gerta”. Wasn’t looking for this diy refrigerator door chalkboard but glad I found you through Pinterest b/c my husband was just watching something on TV the other day about doing this. What he explained from the episode I think included sanding or something. I can handle simple – thank you!
Love it! Was looking for ways to convert my almond colored refrigerator to black as other appliances are. I prefer this to painting. Like someone asked, will it leave a sticky surface when removed? Mine is 20 plus yrs. old anyway!
@Namagiri I still have it on my fridge so I can’t say for sure if it will leave a residue, but when I peeled up the corner there was no residue. It might also depend on the brand of vinyl you use and how long you leave it on?
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