DIY Wallpapered Refrigerator Makeover

So, now that the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak, after our big One Room Challenge kitchen reveal, you know that we decided at the last minute not to paint our original wood cabinetry. I had been so set on the painting phase of that project that I felt a little unsure of things when I finally decided against it.

I sort of spun in circles mentally there for a bit, and didn’t know what to do in place of paint. We definitely weren’t done with the project—I still felt strongly that we needed to do something bold in the space. But what?

As I explained in last week’s reveal, I ultimately decided on wallpaper. I pivoted my entire design plan toward dreams of transforming the wall opposite the wall of upper cabinetry with a big patterned feature wall (see the update come to life in the two quick iPhone snaps below), but I wasn’t going to stop there. I also decided to tackle a mini makeover on our fridge, too, using the same print to help draw both sides of the room together.

I ended up using all of the wallpaper the brand sent to me specifically for our One Room Challenge makeover, but, luckily, I had a few scraps of the same custom mint wallpaper leftover from this project, so I pulled the fridge out and got to work. (By the way, you can still snag 20% off your Astek Home order using code ‘DGDIY” now through the end of the year!)

I’ve actually never been all that smitten with the exposed black side of our stainless steel refrigerator. In fact, I was kinda miffed when the fridge was delivered to our home from the store only to find that the stainless finish only carried onto the front of the unit. How lame! So, the fridge has been begging for a little makeover practically since the moment it arrived.

As you can see from the iPhone photo below, I didn’t have enough wallpaper to completely cover the refrigerator, but I had just enough to finish the exposed parts of the appliance. It’s not pretty when pulled out, but when pushed back in its place amongst the cabinets, our fridge is looking perfectly precious (if I do say so myself) thanks to its minty fresh facelift.

I think this might be one of those times when John is allowing me a “pass” because he’s not all that in love with the new look. I think it reads a little girlie to him. I do see where he’s coming from (it’s admittedly pretty cute-sy!), but I adore the updated look. It just looks so much more fitting with the rest of the space, especially with the wallpapered feature wall on the other side of the room. The new patterned side of the fridge also brings some much-needed color and personality to this largely neutral side of our kitchen.

I’m completely, 100 percent convinced that it was the right thing to do, but if I ever change my mind somewhere down the line, it’s super easy to pull the wall covering off to expose that original black finish. I’m curious to know what you think, so feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below! And in case you missed the full makeover reveal of our retro kitchen, feel free to revisit this post from last week.