A Simple Way to Jazz Up Your Refrigerator

I finally had some free time on my hands to work on a few projects on my ‘someday’ list.  Since moving recently, I really wanted to bring color to my new spaces, whether it was the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom or my office. I wanted to really love every room and feel inspired by them, as well.

This is how I brought more color into my kitchen

Just before moving in, I had a very short window of time to pick out the colors I wanted in each room, without really knowing how much daylight comes into each one. Some of it was guesswork and some of it was just common sense. With a north-facing window, I would get great morning light in my {tiny} new kitchen so I chose a pale yellow paint for the walls and white shelves to match the already-installed white cabinets. There wasn’t much I could do to change the cabinets (other than take the doors off, but that would just make this small space look messy).

I did have one idea for the white (and somewhat boring) fridge.

Contact paper (a.k.a. adhesive shelf liner).

I just wasn’t sure if it was feasible. So, I forgot about it for a while…then saw the most beautiful paper by The Macbeth Collection.

It’s called Sophia Limoncello and matches my kitchen just the way I want it to…so, off I went to work with what I had to give my kitchen and this refrigerator a little more character.

Covering a Refrigerator with Contact Paper

Most refrigerators can be covered with contact paper. It’s easily removable and won’t ruin the surface. The only down-side is that it’s quite tempting for the little ones to peel it away since much of it is at eye level for them…

What You’ll Need:

desired contact paper/adhesive shelf liner  (one full roll about 1.5 ft. wide and 10 ft. in length), which fits most average size refrigerators

a pencil

scissors

exacto knife

measuring tape

How to Do It

Take Measurement

Measure the length and width of your refrigerator and plan to cut the paper the vertical length of the largest part of your fridge (for me it was the bottom half). Most contact paper comes with measurements on the back, which are super helpful.

Just mark where you need to cut on the back of the contact paper with a pencil.

Clear Any Distractions

Though this is not hard to do, be sure you’re distraction-free so that you measure correctly and also take your time to get all of the air bubbles out of the paper when finalizing the placement of it.

Work with Whole Pieces of Paper First

Cut one piece at a time, beginning with a large piece, and place it on the fridge before doing any other cutting (believe me, you’ll have some odd spaces to fill later).

I began by situating the cut paper on the far right of my refrigerator, starting from the bottom and peeling the paper off slowly from the bottom upwards. That worked for me, although you may want to start from the top and work down. I just felt like I had more control of the paper and the air bubbles this way. I used my hand to smooth out the air bubbles, but my aunt actually suggested that a shower squeegee would work great, too.

The bottom half of my fridge needed two large pieces and the top needed one, so I did those first, then cut strips for the edges off to the left With measuring tape and a pencil, that was super easy to do. Whatever remained, I cut with the exacto knife so that the end result was tidy.

Et voila! The final results, which even surprised my husband, and I’m surprised at how well it went over with him…but then again, this is a simple project that truly changes things up a bit. Isn’t it so cute?! 

How about you? Is this something you might try? If you do, be sure to share your photos on our Facebook page.

More ideas for covering your refrigerator with contact paper:

Alchemy Junk

Shoestring Pavilion

You can do so much to the surface of your refrigerator, including making it look like it’s stainless steel:

How to Apply Stainless Steel Contact Paper to Your Fridge