I'm thinking of covering a chest freezer with wallpaper - any tricks or techniques i should know?

The freezer has the typical white gloss paint finish. I think I may need to scuff up the finish... any other ideas?

Thanks!

 

I would try shelf paper. It has an adhesive back and you just peel and stick. Before applying it use an old spray bottle and mix in a few drops of dish soap in water. Thoroughly spray the freezer and back of the shelf paper. Then apply the shelf paper to the freezer. The layer of soapy water will prevent it from sticking so you can position it exactly how you want. Then once it's where you want it use a squeegee or balled up rag from the center outward to push the water out. In a day it will be firmly stuck in place.

If you want to go fancy you can have vehicle/store window vinyl graphics printed. It's not cheap but you can have anything you want printed on it and it will peel off cleanly when you want to remove it.

 

I was going to suggest Contact paper instead, but Pilot Dane beat me to it!

 

Good advice, i'll check out contact paper. But to be honest, i'm trying to match some other wallpaper in the room. Are you saying the adhesive on wallpaper won't work well on a glossy surface?

I have virtually no experience with wallpaper, the existing paper was installed before i got the house.

 

Well, we wallpapered just one time and it was a real pain in the butt plus a big mess! However, since a freezer isn't anywhere near the size of walls, it probably wouldn't be too bad. Don't know if it would stick or not, but I'm thinking that maybe a coat of flat paint first, would help it stick.

 

While I've painted a few refrigerators I've never heard of anyone papering one. I don't know how big of an issue the gloss would be but if it is a concern a coat of pigmented shellac primer like Zinnser's BIN would help. Since it isn't a porous surface I'd expect it to strip well if/when that day comes.

 

I will ask the obvious that nobody else has asked, why??

 

I'll check into some kind of primer... that may be the best solution.

Why? Why not! Ha! Actually the freezer is a keezer and the design i have for the bar area includes matching the paper on a wall with the keezer.

Thanks for the input!

 

Sorry but I'm with Marq1 on this one!
It will be interesting to see how this works out a year later.

 

I hate chest freezer keezers. I'm too old to be lifting full kegs up and over to get them inside.

Is your freezer deep enough or are you adding a collar around the top?

 

Roman Brand Primer R-35 or R-39 is a primer that dries with a tack. I've used it in the past to prime glass mirrors on a wall in a restaurant, prior to applying wallcoverings.
Scuff the surface with a 150 or 120 grit sandpaper, prior to the application of the primer. Allow sufficient dry-time, per the label on the primer can. Aside from the texture of the freezer surface, there is nothing that will prevent proper adhesion and, then, you can chose ANY typical wallcovering, opening up many choices/styles/prints for your freezer. You should be able to purchase the primer at any better Paint Store.
This is not a "possible" solution. This WILL work...tried/tested and true.

 

Thanks PnP, that's exactly the feedback i was looking for! I'll check out the Roman R-35 or R-39.

 

Ugh. If I ever meet the guy who invented wallpaper, I'm going to get assault charges filed on me. Ranks right up there with particle board as far as useless PITA inventions.

Here's hoping you change your mind and wave off. If not, good luck with this, I hope it is nowhere near as bad a project as I'm imagining it will be.

 

The good thing about hanging wallpaper on a freezer is there won't be any problems with stripping it when that time comes.

 

Yeah, stick shift, I hear you. This project has high WAF values. WAF is, of course, Wife Acceptance Factor. She really wants to give it a try so that is what we will do. And marksr, I agree. If it turns out poorly, we can strip it off and try something else. At least we're not trying to paper a 1000 sf family room!

Wish us luck!

 

I seem to remember my freezer sides being warm to the touch. Where are the condenser coils located? Do they emit heat out the sides of the freezer box? If so, wouldn't covering them with wallpaper inhibit heat dissipation?

 

No expert on freezers but I'm pretty sure they cool/vent out the rear and bottom. There shouldn't be any performance issues covering the sheet metal with paint or wallpaper.

 

Some fridges and freezers have use the skin as a heat sink for the coils. Yes, putting anything over that area would lower it's efficiency to some extent. I've never heard it cause a problem with a kreezer though. Since kreezers are operated a fridge temperatures the freezer is working much less hard than when it was trying to maintain deep freeze temps.

 

Best thing I ever saw for a fridge decoration? (Realtor, I've shown lots and lots of homes.)
Repousee' artwork hammered into the metal panels of a typical refrigerator.
Amazing.

Something like THIS



Take a bland metal fridge panel, or dishwasher panel, or oven panel.
Find a local artist or artsy body shop that does good metal work.
They can pound and stretch the metal panel into raised-relief artwork.

Clamp keep the four long ends of the panel straight. Heat, pound, repeat.

 

Wow, that's beautiful! May not exactly fit what we're going for, but i'll keep the technique in mind for other projects.