Make Your Folding Screen

Our house has an open living space, i.e., living room, dining and kitchen combined. When building the house, I was concerned that a wall or half-wall was not constructed to hide the refrigerator. I did not make an issue of it. We painted our original fridge to blend in with the dishwasher color. But as time went on, the dishwasher was replaced as well as the fridge, which was at least 17 years old when the house was built. I couldn't find a fridge in a color I wanted and so chose a bisque color with the idea to paint later. I found all kinds of reasons to not paint and there it stood -- sticking out like a sore thumb.


I searched online for months for a suitable folding screen in a height that would hide the fridge. If I found one, it was too expensive; and if I found one that was priced just right, it was too short. Meanwhile I kept going to HGTV and DIY sites for instructions for building a folding screen. I got the general idea and then made one that I wanted.

I chose to use MDF boards; however, I suggest using something lighter. I think natural wood is probably lighter. The fridge stands 68 inches high and had Home Depot cut the boards at 69 inches. I used three 1x12's and one 1x6. A dry wall texture was applied to one side similar to the technique used on the walls, allowed to dry, and then painted in a matching faux finish on the walls. On the reverse side of the screen, I covered the panels in a faux leather using a staple gun to attach.



On the painted side, I used a gimp fabric trim to hide the staples. Use fabric glue on the ends so the trim will not fray. The boards still looked kind of blah and added a design using a decorative nail strip, bought from the fabric center at Wallmart. Attached hinges at the top, middle and bottom of the boards, and voila! I had a folding screen to hide the fridge from the rest of the room. :D


To recap the materials needed:

3 - 1 x 12 inch boards (including the air space behind the fridge, there was 35" to hide)
1 - 1 x 6 inch board (this smaller panel was used to place behind the fridge to give more stability to the screen)
Dry wall texture material, application tool
Primer for the dry wall side and paint for the faux finish
Fabric for the panels
Trim to hide staples on reverse side
Fabric glue
Staple gun and staples
Decorative nails for design
Hammer

Until next time, God bless.