Does your kitchen need some sprucing up? If the creative bug has bitten you and you’ve got a budget, there’s no more exciting way to do it than by turning your appliances into art.
How to paint your fridge
Image via Peter Mello
I’m not here to tell you how to be an artist! I’m just here to let you know a few neat tricks about painting your fridge that will help you make it into a piece of art that’s long-lasting and well-finished.
- Get the right paint and equipment. Don’t buy just any paint. Instead, be sure to get appliance-specific or heat-resistant paint. Not only will it have a harder time bonding to your fridge, but different parts of your fridge can heat up and cool down constantly, and with the wrong paint you’ll eventually be able to see evidence of this: cracked and peeling paint. You should also decide if you’re going to be using spray paint or brush paint. For a base coat, I’d recommend spray paint, because it could take a seriously long time to cover a fridge with a brush! For accents and actual artistic painting, pick up a few small cans of paint to apply by brush.
- Prepare to paint. Prep is the most important part of any paint job. Remove all the handles, decals, and covers, and look for rust spots, nicks, scratches, or cracks. Sand these down with fine sandpaper. Wipe down the whole fridge with soapy water and let it dry. Remember: any rust, gunk, dust, or other dirt will compromise the awesomeness of any layer of paint you put on, so be sure to get your fridge sparkly clean before starting. Heck, with it looking so fresh and clean you might not want to paint it anymore.With your fridge all cleaned up, now’s the time to cover the things that you don’t want painted. Perhaps you’re making a design on your fridge with masking tape? Tape it down now. Perhaps you’re doing the whole job in your kitchen? Cover up everything that you don’t want to be bright magenta.
- Get painting! This is the fun part. Just go slow, and spray the paint thin and in multiple layers. Wait for it to dry before getting ultra-creative! Finger painting, anyone?
How to make a mosaic with your toaster
Image via Mosaic Garden.
You’ve made a mosaic before, I’m sure. Maybe it was at a DIY pottery class, or in high school art. Maybe you had to toss it in a kiln? Well, fortunately, the only way to make a mosaic isn’t with clay – and your toaster will appreciate it. Go get some craft glue, or a glue gun! The real challenge is to decide what you’ll put on it? What’s your toaster motif?
- Make sure it’ll fit to the toaster. That means using pieces that are small enough that they can conform to the curves of the appliance, or grabbing mosaic pieces that can be molded to fit.
- Have a definite theme. Don’t just grab any old bunch of things and glue it to your toaster! I’m not saying you can’t use junk, but if you’re going to do that, you should actually make sure that the junk works together! How about using Lego pieces? How about finding all the blue glass you can? Why not repurpose some small tiles that you have leftover from a bathroom renovation? Mosaics are all about repeating one thing so often that it turns into something new and beautiful, so make sure you’re diligent in choosing that basic building block!
How to make your fridge into a derby car
These guys in Washington figured out that sometimes, it’s more fun to put yourself in a fridge than it is to put food in it. Check out the rides they made!
When Andrew’s not blogging about DIY projects, he works at ApplianceHelp, an online appliance repair parts retailer and DIY resource.
Wow, that mosaic toaster is so pretty. My toasters always seem to break though, and it’s hard to imagine tossing out such a pretty toaster!
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My husband at one point spray painted our fridge a bright turquoise. Then he got tired of it and decided to do orange. The sad thing is that appliance paint only comes in white, at least around here, and he had to go to the ‘burbs to buy spray paint b/c it’s illegal to sell in Chicago.
Now, the thing is covered with ConTac paper.
I don’t know. I just don’t know.