apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Does anybody else find it ironic that an "eco-stylist" is buying bottled water?

DIY:

Buy double sided heavy-duty 3M foam tape. Most likely you'll want 1" wide and at least 1 roll depending on how big it is.

Buy a sheet of masonite, it usually comes in 1/4". Be sure to get the stuff that's smooth on both sides.

Cut the masonite down to the size you want; it can be cut with any saw or even scored with a utility knife, broken and then sanded down a bit.

Paint masonite with paint...duh.

Apply the foam tape to the masonite and ensure that it sticks well.

Remove backing from tape and apply masonite to fridge.

The foam tape will stick to a clean surface and if you apply it around the edges of the masonite and
at various points elsewhere. This stuff is so strong in fact, it will leave residue on the fridge. You can remove the residue with acetone, rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover (laqcuer thinner/toluene/acetone) or a citrus based cleaner.

Have fun

That looks very cool, and I'm tempted to do it myself. But what a pain to put a grocery list on it. You have to either copy it onto a piece of paper, or bring your refrigerator with you to the store.

That's adorable, and probably already magnetic.
I think that grocery list is for show...

if you are going to paint metal panels with the chalkboard paint to attach to your fridge, why not by a roll magnetic tape, i believe 3M makes it as well. The magnet tape will stick to the metal panel (magnetically or with the attached adhesive), and magnetically to your fridge. This will prevent any glue/tape residue sticking to your fridge when you remove the panels. seems a little easier...

Does Danny Seo mention anything about using an appliance primer before the chalkboard paint? Or did he just use the paint?

I really want to do this.

julian-

thanks again for a great how-to! I also saw the slat-table how-to on flickr...

Another question: At the top of the post it mentions painting metal panels in place of the pricey frigo ones. Just plain old metal panels from a home improvement store?

Whether or not the grocery list is "just for show", this is the actual refrigerator in his actual home. You would think that somebody who claims to be oh-so-Earth-conscious would be more responsible about what products are on the grocery list, "just for show" or not.

I would avoid metal panels for the below reasons:

Cutting the metal will require much more work; if the sheet metal is thick (think more than a millimeter) you'll need either a handhelf jigsaw with metal blade, an electric cutting shear or a metalshop with plasma cutter (so much fun btw)

The metal will then need to be sanded to remove any sharp burrs and primed (the paint will not stick too well to raw steel)

If the metal is very very thin it'll be flexy and dent, bend etc... if it's thinck it'll be heavy indeed and the magnets will not work too well.

Also keep in mind that the magnets or foam tape has some width and will push the metal/masonite off the surface of the appliance and as such the appliance will not support the panel when you write on it...

And last but not least; masonite can be bough anywhere and in various sizes (4' x 8' / 2' x 4'...) and is cheap cheap cheap!

An alternate to the foam tape would be to buy some earth magnets and crazy glue/epoxy them to the back of the masonite. Earth magnets are stupid strong and would easily hold up the panel and would leave no residue!


With respect to painting the fridge itself...

Definetly prime first... something that will etch into the existing finish of the fridge.

Here's another idea:
Go to the store and buy shelf liner and cover the front of the fridge with it. Paint the shelf liner with the chalkboard paint. Methinks the paint should stick no problem and the liner should remove without trouble...

This is cute. I've been wanting to do this or do a side of the fridge, but with the black paint.

And what's so environmentally incorrect about his list? Okay, so he drinks bottled water, but I'm sure he recycles.

Julian,
Fabulous idea about the shelf liner! Thank you so much for writing that. It's exactly the solution I've been looking for!!!

maria

also, sparkability carries a chalkboard wall decal that i'm guessing will stick on a fridge. (although it won't cover the entire appliance.)

julian's shelf-liner suggestions sounds like the easiest + most cost-effective though! gotta love that.

You can try this DIY kit (comes with the metal strips), too.

http://www.frigodesign.com/

Holly :)

Where's the Cheez Whiz and Corn Dogs?

Bottled water? Does anyone drink tap water anymore? After a few scares around here (Texas) I drink nothing but bottled water. Not to mention, you're supposed to have bottled water for emergencies - so maybe this person was stocking up for that.

I'm opinionated but not judgmental.

I think I've found actual chalkboard contact paper. I've never used it, so I can't vouch for how well it works, but it sure couldn't get any easier than this! I only found it in black though.

http://housewares.hardwarestore.com/37-188-contact-papers/chalkboard-contact-paper-105260.aspx

opinionated - I drink tap water. I filter it first, but it comes out of the tap. Bottled water is wasteful but yes, you should have some on hand in case of emergencies. My guess is that Andrew was a little irritated by the seeming hypocrisy of the list - like if this were the fridge of the Pres. of PETA and the list had lamb loin on it. So few people practice what they preach.
That said, I love this chalkboard fridge idea - I think it would be especially helpful for people like me who have post-it notes and scraps of paper held to the fridge with magnets in my attempts to remember stuff!

I friggin love this site!

Why drink bottled water you ask:

HERE'S WHY!

MMM, gourmet water...

Not only is bottled water one of the biggest frauds ever pulled off by the soft drink industry (http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/bwinx.asp) recycling bottles is a pin drop in reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing plastic bottles and transporting bottles full of water back and forth across the country.

More:

http://www.grist.org/advice/possessions/2004/05/04/mcrandle-bottled/index.html
http://www.sierraclub.org/cac/water/bottled_water/

Oy, ATNY will eat URLs if you try to anchor them.

NRDC Report on Bottled Water
Grist Magazine
Sierra Club

Anyone who rationalizes their consumption by recycling should go find a copy of Penn & Teller's Bullshit episode on recycling.

http://www.tv.com/penn-and-teller-bullshit!/recycling/episode/318820/summary.html

Rebecca,
Your idea is even easier! Thanks for the link to the chalkboard contact paper. And so affordable!

maria

maria,

no problem, glad I could help! If you try it, please post back and let us know how it worked out!

Rebecca

Rebecca,
I went to the web site and currently they are out of stock- but when I called they told me they'll be getting more in two weeks. They were very helpful and the cost is so reasonable. I can't wait to experiment with this on my fridge!

maria

While chalkboard paint is a clever innovation that is probably great for a section of wall in a kids room or somewhere I fail to see how painting it on a fridge is an improvement over the fridges cluttered with the magnets and post-it notes that everyone seems to frown upon lately?

While innocent and appealing, I doubt the actuality of having the chalk on the door, so that it swings through the air 15+ plus times a day scattering chalk dust and having to be careful how you open it so you don't smudge yourself is that fun. And keeping chalk and erasers on hand just sounds tchotchke-y to me.

I love painted appliances, though. So yay for that.

This would work for me - I always leave my shopping list at home anyway.

Those of us in the South are encouraged to drink bottled water to save our reservoirs because of the drought. Drinking bottled water is part of natural water conservation.

I don't know about you, but I don't think I want my guests reading everything on my grocery list. some things are better off private.

lol bottled water and bagged premixed lettuce (w/ e.coli) Anyhow, I'm from Michigan and we don't need bottled water even for emergencies, we have our own well so when the power goes out we only can get a couple pitchers of tap water but thats plenty for drinking for a few days, people in cities still have all the tap water they want. If there really is some sort of emergency where tap water can't be drank, then thats the time to use the gas to go to the store and buy the bottled water (get it in the gallon jugs instead)