How to disguise a fridge

Say goodbye to our fridge.  Yes, that is our fridge! 

 

Most people miss it when standing in our kitchen too.  We had to do something with it - we wouldn't be The Stencil Library if we didn't.  The problem was that it was a very uninspiring brilliant white.  Plain white surfaces do not go well in our house.  So we had to come up with a solution.  Our fridge disguise has been quite popular as many people don't like the look of their appliances in their kitchen either.

Fortuitously, our fridge had completely flat fronted doors.  In our first scheme, we simply cut some thin plywood to the size of the doors.  We painted, stencilled and varnished the wood.  The stencils are enlarged versions of our Brighton Pavilion inspired chinese stencils TP54 and BB44.  It was then stuck to the front of the fridge with double sided sticky tape.  Yes, they did occasionally fall off, but not often.  The kitchen has been stencilled 4 times and with each new scheme, the boards were painted and stencilled to match.  No more ugly, white, metal doors.  The fridge has then been set within a shelf/storage unit built by our joiner (the base is an old wood office desk with the legs cut off).

The last and current scheme has a new type of panel attached to the doors.  Rather than painted wood, we have stencilled (with CH28 Mandarin Repeat) and gilded Perspex panels so they look like gold mirror.  Perspex is quite lightweight.  The gilding and stencilling is on the reverse side so we can wipe the panels easily enough should they get dirty.  Now doesn't our fridge look quite posh?

 
Don't get too attached though...after 15 years of sterling service, our fridge gave up this weekend (it is probably because we had been talking about defrosting the polar icecaps that had formed in the freezer and the shock was too much for it).  So, alas, we are saying goodbye to our special, disguised fridge.  We have ordered a new one.  It is black so it doesn't necessarily need the stencil treatment as it should blend in quite nicely (as long as we always create kitchen schemes with a black element to them).  Also, it was quite hard to tell online whether or not the doors are completely flat or not.  These days, all appliances seem to get the designer treatment and have things like curves or funny handles on them.  I am sure that it won't be long before we figure out someway to make our new fridge very Stencil Library though.

Rachel.

Comments

[lynne rutter]

what a brilliant idea. gilt perspex! it's just lovely. is there no way you can fit the new panels on the new fridge?

[stencil helen]

Yes, the gilded perspex is very pretty. I teach a class with it and the students make a mirror to take home with them.
The new fridge arrived yesterday..it has curved doors! The perspex is flexible I may try attaching it to the new door with magnets. Another idea may to find some transparent film to stencil, gild and attach.

[Regina - Fauxology]

So very, very cool. Perhaps the fridge wanted to retire in all its glory? Can't wait to see what is dreamed up for the new one... :)

[Elena]

I just stumbled upon your fabulous fridge. This is exactly what I was looking for! I have a fridge that is actually made with the frames to hold panels in place. Currently I have chalk board "panels" but I am in love with this mirrored look. Can you please give me some more details on what was used for "gilding". Will run of the mill sticky size and silver leaf sheets work? Will any acrylic paint stick to the perspex?

[stencil helen]

Panels on the fridge...how wonderful. You will need to use a gelatin based size. I use gelatin crystals dissolved in hot water. Sheets of aluminium transfer leaf are floated onto the size, dried and burnished one leaf at a time. It is not as fiddly or lengthy as it sounds but it is much better to be shown how to do it. We sell the leaf at The Stencil Library. I shall try and make a blog post soon showing how I did it. I'll look for my pictures. If you have not seen the post within the month....remind me.