Bunnings makeover: Woman transforms fridge with $100

The fridge makeover cost just A$100. Photo / news.com.au

An Aussie woman has received an "unexpected" amount of attention after she posted before and after photos of her fridge transformation to Facebook.

Taking to the popular group Bunnings Mums Australia, Katie-Jane Smith revealed how she spent just A$100 ($107) at Bunnings to give her old, stained fridge an expensive new look.

"Wow I did not expect this response," she said after receiving nearly 3000 likes and hundreds of comments.

Smith said the makeover took three days and just two tins of primer and paint to create the chalkboard finish.

"We did all of this with it still plugged in and running, just pulled it forward from the wall and put some cardboard under for spills," she said.

Smith didn't spend a dime on the fridge itself, telling news.com.au she got the fridge for free after a friend went for an upgrade.

"It was the only thing we didn't have for our new home and my friend had just upgraded and was going to dump it so we took it," Smith said.

The makeover took three days and just two tins of primer and paint to create the chalkboard finish. Photo / news.com.au

"It is definitely quite old and had a lot of scratches on the exterior as well as yellowed plastic handles and trimming."

The Brisbane local said she and her husband were on the hunt for a new home so buying a brand new fridge wasn't an option.

"It didn't seem too important as it's fully functional and also we didn't want to buy a fridge now that wouldn't suit the 'nook' in the home."

And so they decided to get creative.

"My partner suggested chalkboard paint so we could still write notes/shopping lists on the fridge and wipe away easily," Smith said.

They began the process by wiping down the old, white fridge with turps before rinsing it with water and sanding it down.

They then applied two coats of Dulux Metalshield Primer (from A$27.90) and three coats of White Knight Chalkboard Paint Spray (from A$16.90) from Bunnings.

To help apply the products the duo used microfibre rollers also from the handy store, wiping it down with water in between each coat.

"It looks amazing! I've been thinking about painting my fridge, it's coming up to 14 years old and starting to look a bit tired," one woman commented.

"So tempted to paint my fridge now," said another.

"If my fridge wasn't relatively new I would absolutely be doing this!!! It looks great!!!" a third person commented.

"LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS," a fourth member said, while others added how "great" and "amazing" it looked.

The handles were upgraded with jute. Photo / news.com.au

While the appliance's matte-black finish got a slew of positive comments, others were more interested in how she transformed the fridge's plastic, off-white handles.

"Handles are just painted and have jute rope from Kmart wrapped around and hot glued on," Smith explained.

Jute rope can cost as little as A$4.

"Wow this is absolutely brilliant! Fantastic work! This is something I would usually expect to see in a magazine. I'm definitely inspired now," one very impressed user wrote.

After many questioned whether the fridge was still magnetic, Smith confirmed it indeed still had its grip.

However, she did admit to members that when sunlight reflects onto it, you can see some of the roller marks.

"But honestly the way it was originally was so horrible (it had a lot of damage that isn't obvious in the before pic) that I'd rather lines in bad lighting over how it was," Smith said.

"But 99 per cent of the time it looks amazing."