From mirror to chalkboard

At Christmas time I promised I would blog about how I made this chalkboard.

I have been putting it off because I don't feel it is truly done.

But I'm going to go ahead and talk about it anyway.

It all started with a large mirror I found at the thrift store.

It was an icky yellow color and one of the finials on top was broken off.

But it was quite tall and had a nice shape to it.

It also was only $8.00.

SOLD!

It had these rusty metal legs screwed to the back so I assume it used to be attached to a dresser.

As you can see I started by sawing off both finials.

I used my miter saw and it was FUN!

I then painted it white. I thought I would love it white, but I didn't.

It looked to much like a dresser in a little girls room.

I knew I wanted to make it into a blackboard, but I was scared.

Then I saw this post, at The Life of Lou Lou where she turned a very similar mirror into a blackboard.

(it's gorgeous, check it out!)

I emailed and begged her to tell me how she did it.

She was kind enough to email back and said she turned the mirror around and painted the back of the mirror with chalkboard paint.

Very Clever!

However I found when I took the mirror out that it was super heavy and the frame was actually quite light.

I also was concerned that one of the menfolk in my house would crash into it or throw something at it one day and it would get broken.

So I went to Lowe's and had them cut a thin piece of wood for me that fit the inside of the frame.

When I brought it home I cut the top corners off myself to fit the arch in the top of the mirror.

I painted three coats of blackboard paint on the board, letting it dry between coats.

I then used Gorilla Glue to glue the board inside the back of the frame.

I weighed the wood down with some heavy books and let it dry overnight.

As this photo shows I ended up using a lot of glaze on the frame so it wasn't so white anymore.

This is what It looked like at Christmas time.

And I've shown it to you next to my gray table.

Here is how it looks today.

A little on the plain side, but I'll be fluffing it up for Valentines day soon.

I still feel like the finish is missing something.

I want to do something with that cool flower like detail at the top but I'm not sure what.

But it's good enough for now until future inspiration strikes.

I should mention, the frame is plastic so I can't sand it to distress the piece.

This is my message of the day, for you.

Hey, don't say I never get deep on this blog!

Edited to add photo from Valentine's chalkboard tablescape:

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I'm joining Freckled Laundy's Chalkboard Party!

                                                                      

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Write by: AN - Tuesday, January 25, 2011