I'd seen a picture of a chalkboard on Pinterest a long time ago that really inspired me, and I've had it in the back of my head while thrifting since then.
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| http://thedabneyhome.blogspot.com/2012/02/from-mirror-to-chalkboard.html |
I figured it would be relatively easy to find a piece like that someday, and I was right. My sister was visiting from Memphis and we opted to spend our day together bouncing from thrift store to thrift store, and I found this guy in the middle of a Front Royal mad house of a flea market.
The best part is that it cost a mere $20. Score yet another one for thrift stores. And look at those details on the top! It's got a lot of character for a $20 mirror. I snatched it (after a phone call to hubs) and have been storing it in the guest room for a couple weeks until I got a chance to paint it. A $2.50 bottle of chalkboard paint made for glass and a $4 white paint pen, and I was good to go.
First step: tape off the wood. We spent a lot of time going back and forth about whether to paint the frame white or leave it this wood, and in the end the wood won out. I have kind of a white frame theme going in the house, but it's good to switch it up every once in a while. And I think it does add to the character of the piece. So wood it stayed.
Second step: paint the mirror with the chalkboard. Pretty straight forward, really. It took two coats and I had to do some touch ups after I took the tape off and it took some of the paint with it, but it wasn't bad. I will say that I used an artist's brush to paint it, and in hindsight I would have used a roller. I honestly meant to roll it on, but got caught up in the moment and forgot. There are some uneven lines from the brush edge, but it's not bad and it's not that noticeable. Once there's chalk on it it will be even less noticeable.
Third step: write out the "Verse of the Week" header at the top. I saw a different chalkboard on Pinterest a while ago that had a chalkboard like this that was turned into a "Verse of the Week" board, where scripture is shared with the family all week and memorized. I loved the idea, and decided that when I make my own chalkboard I'd do the same thing. I wanted to write out that header with white paint, meant to look like chalk but more functional in reality because it won't wipe off. If I ever decide to change the purpose of the board someday, I can just paint over it.
Please ignore my eraser marks from when I penciled it out, didn't like it, erased it and drew it again.
I used a white paint pen to do the writing, because it's just way easier than using a paint brush. Why put yourself through that kind of stress? It was a super fine point though, so I went over it a couple times to thicken the letters.
Fourth step: something to hold the chalk...which was also stolen from Pinterest. I used a drawer pull, attached up-side down. I used super glue to attach it straight to the chalkboard, rather than screwing it into the wood. Chalk is super light so it wouldn't need to bear much weight, and I just couldn't bear to mess up the wood.
Fifth step: hang it! This step was super easy because the mirror already came with hanging hardware attached. How lovely.
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| Pay no attention to the weird reflection of my Kitchenaide on the wall. Or my dog. |
How great is that? I love it. It's huge, it fits the space really well, and the wood frame perfectly complements all the wood that's in that space already. Now I just need to choose a verse for the week...
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