"Marble top" deep freeze

We have this deep freeze.  It was bought for Mr. Curly and I shortly after we were married when his father came to visit.  Father-in-law wanted to stock us up on steak and pork chops and chicken and all sorts of meat, only, we had an apartment size fridge, which meant a freezer big enough for... well, a pound of hamburger and some ice cream.

Instead of spending tons of money on meat, he bought us this nice little sized deep freeze that we put on our back porch.  We LOVE it.  It went from our back porch to our garage, to the corner of our dining room where I covered it with a tablecloth (because never thinking I'd have it IN my house, we never paid much attention to what we sat on top of it), to my laundry room, and now it sits in my kitchen.

I should've taken before shots - the top is covered in paint rings and has a few scratches.  It looks pretty rough and not usually clean.  Almost 2 years ago Mr. Curly wanted to buy some wood veneer stuff (super thin wood we lined the top of our mantle with in the SD house) and cover the deep freeze in it so that it would match my kitchen island. A little wooden deep freeze -wouldn't that be cute?

Only we kind of never got to it.  And I got really tired of it always looking messy, especially since the deep freeze became an extra counter in my now super tiny kitchen.  So I did this to it:

 

This is covered with marble-looking contact paper made for lining shelves.  While you can't really tell here, I cut the paper into 12x12 inch squares so it would look more tiled.  I'm thinking about getting some super thin gray painters tape to make "grout lines"  What do you think?

I even wrapped it down around the side.  This is what is on my deep freeze - a chore chart system that Curly Baby likes to destroy (several magnets missing) and handprint art from my niece when she came up for Curly Girl's birthday party.

 

And a view of that side of my kitchen.  My kitchen island, with the awesome microwave stand Mr. Curly made me for Christmas, his toaster I got him for our 8th anniversary, my under-cabinet radio I got for a birthday about 7 years ago from my parents, our microwave (also from my parents when we moved into our first place), our breadbox which was a wedding present from one of Mr. Curly's old football coach and my solid wood cutting board (covered in papers, but reserved for raw meat only) that was a Christmas present last year.  You know, just in case you couldn't live without knowing how we got all that stuff.  And of course, the deep freeze, the recycle can, the trash can, and you can just see the trim for the door to our pantry.

 

 

More kitchen info than you'd ever like to know!  But this should give you hope - have a nasty topped deep freeze?  Cover it in contact paper - lots of choices, washable, and removable when you change your decor!

(By the way, the kitchen walls are going to be remodeled SOON - Mr. Curly is thinking this weekend we'll start pulling wallpaper!)