Warming Up The Freezer…A Freezer Makeover

Mr. Awesome and I have been wanting a chest freezer for quite some time. The freezers attached to apartment refrigerators leaves something to be desired, unfortunately, so does the space in an apartment. It wasn’t until we moved into a house that we actually had space for one but as life would have it, when you get the space for something, you run out of money….am I right? *nod head now* For Christmas, please get all laughs at my pathetic lateness of posting this project out of the way….now, Mr. Awesome and I were surprised to find that our house had been broken into….okay okay, so they didn’t steal anything. I know! What kind of burglars break into a house and don’t steal anything!?! In fact, instead of stealing something, they brought us a very large wrapped box with a sign that said “Don’t Open Until Dec. 25th” I know what your thinking…it’s like yelling at a girl in a horror movie…don’t move toward the big box with the serial killer in it, RUN AWAY! That was my first instinct but now I know how the girl in the movies feel…no matter how much you want to run, curiosity takes over and it’s like a force (no Star Wars references please) just draws you in closer and closer until…..HAHA okay so did I get your heart racing? Did you think I was gonna have to go all Chuck Norris on the serial killer in the box? Well we caught the burglars and they were none other than 2 people that I like to call…Mom and Dad. We did wait until Dec. 25th. Although for future reference Mom and Dad, it’s just cruel to do that to your children. It’s hard enough sleeping on Christmas Eve….try adding the curiosity of the massive surprise present. We were so excited and surprised to find that they had gotten us a chest freezer for Christmas! That meant we could actually stock up on things!!!! Are we total nerds for being excited about stocking up on groceries? What has my life come to? Now comes the downside…..I think appliances belong in the kitchen but we had no room in the kitchen and therefore the only spot for the freezer was in the dining room….bleh. The white freezer did not match the white furniture in the rest of the room, it was to much of a bright blue white. I get that most of the responses to this will be….WHO CARES!?! Or maybe it’s just the guys who think that way? Well I care! I didn’t want to just have an appliance randomly placed in the dining room. It needed to look like it belonged which is how I came up with my freezer makeover.
I know there are all sorts of things like appliance paints, decals and all that fun stuff but I didn’t want to paint a brand new freezer and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. I wanted something that could be changed easily, because let’s face it, I am a girl and I have no problem admitting that I change my mind a lot. I used left over lace, curtain fabric, and ribbon and then all I had to purchase was the small Velcro squares and this is what I came up with.

The first step was to take my lace which I had left over from the Dresser to TV Stand Makeover and fold it in half. I wanted a double scalloped edge so I didn’t fold it exactly in half. I measured the length needed and folded about an inch at the top and then just did a simple straight stich across the top.
I measured out where the Velcro would need to be placed on the freezer and lined that up with the lace. Then I stitched the Velcro on and attached the backing to it.

That’s it for the lace part. Super easy right? Now just attach the lace to the freezer and you get this.
Yes, I know it doesn’t look like much now, probably just a sloppy mess but I’m not done! I knew that because of how much lace I had, I would end up with a space above it and that’s fine. I also knew I wanted a more finished look at the top. For the finished edge, I took some double stick tape and stuck it to the top edge of the freezer. Then I went along the tape with some black ribbon. I did 2 layers of black ribbon and then remembered I also had some turquoise ribbon lying around and 2 layers of turquoise ribbon.


In case you’re wondering, the ribbon does not interfere with opening the freezer. Now I’m still not done, I wanted something like a runner on the top. It worked out perfectly that I had left over fabric from the curtains so I decided to use that. I cut the fabric to the width I needed and instead of doing a hem, I ended up doing a heavy surge on the edges. I just liked they way it looked.

I laid down the runner and added my décor back on top and called it quits. A super easy project that cost no more than $5. I love that I can change it however I want and that it looks like it belongs now instead of just a random appliance. It went from this…
To this…
I know which question you are going to ask now so let me answer…YES I do have to remove the stuff off the top to get into the freezer and apparently to some people that is a huge inconvenience. However, Mr. Awesome and I worked out a system to where we really only have to open the freezer once a week or every 2 weeks. We make a menu for the week using our super cute menu board that I made and then we only have to open the freezer at the beginning of the week, take out what is needed for our meals and put them in the stand up freezer in the kitchen. Now in order to keep better track of what is in our freezers to make meal planning and grocery shopping easier, we put it all into a spread sheet. You can stop yelling NERD ALERT at your computer screen now. It really is a good system for us and we never have to wonder about what food we have and we never have to rummage through the freezer just to find out we don’t have something. It works for us. I know many out there will think I’m crazy for having to decorate a freezer, my Dad certainly thought I was nuts and Mr. Awesome just rolled his eyes and laughed but ultimately didn’t care since the cost was super minimal. I’m opening myself up to lots of “This lady is insane!” comments but what do you think? Am I crazy, genius, or straddling the line where genius becomes crazy?