Chalkboard Fridge

Thanks to Pinterest, I've been obsessing over chalkboard paint for a while.  I've especially been lusting after a chalkboard paint-covered refrigerator, which sadly I could not have in my rental house.  Before we even moved into our new place, we painted the fridge black with chalkboard paint and it was everything I dreamed it would be!  I know, that's a little dramatic, but I was way too excited about this project and surprisingly the bf was too!  The primer wasn't even completely dry before we had the first strokes of chalkboard paint on the fridge, which I don't recommend doing.  You should always make sure your primer is completely dry before you start the next coat of paint.  :)  Here's what we started with:

Here's the almost finished product:

It could be finished, or we could put handles on it.  I'd love to buy some stainless steel or some polished wood handles to replace the boring white ones that were on it.

So that my mistakes were not done in vain... here are my top tips for painting your fridge with chalkboard paint!  You know you want to!
1.  Because you'll probably paint the inside edges of the doors, if you can, unplug your fridge so you can leave the doors open to allow the paint to dry.
2.  We used painters tape to create clean borders on the edges, and in our experience, the tape didn't stick very well when the fridge was cold, but it worked like a charm when it had warmed up to room temperature.  (We bought the cheapest painters tape at Home Depot.  Perhaps a higher quality tape would have performed better.)
3.  Use primer and let it dry completely (duh!) before applying your first coat of the chalkboard paint! (I'm including this one as a reminder to myself.)
4.  Use a brush instead of a roller.  We tried a roller at first and the texture was horrible.  A brush works much better if you want to apply a smooth, chalkboard-looking coat.
5.  Chalkboard paint's consistency is very thin, so you need to watch out for drips more so than your normal latex interior paint.  And always put down a drop cloth!  Ours came in handy.

We're going to paint the front of the dishwasher with the remaining chalkboard paint to give the kitchen appliances a more cohesive look.  (And because I think it will be fun to write "clean" and "dirty" on the dishwasher with chalk!)  There are countless fun ways to use chalkboard paint.  Pinterest told me so.

Like these cute frames turned into chalkboards...

Or these fun wine glasses...

And of course a wall is always a good idea!

Happy painting!  :)