I've wanted to make a chalkboard for my kitchen since we moved in to the house, and I finally got around to it this past week. What a fun way to display birthday and holiday messages and menus! The reason I've been putting it off is that every time I've thought about it, I've had a hangup on what to make it out of. I know you can slap chalkboard paint on just about anything, but I've never used it and therefore didn't have a lot of faith or knowledge about it, but you can bet I am a believer now!
I knew I wanted my chalkboard's frame to be oversized and gaudy (embellished, you could say) - because I have always had a thing for gold gaudy oversized frames.
I originally started with this picture, via Pinterest (originally from here), and it became my chalkboard "pinspiration."
After seeing this chalkboard, it donned on me that I could use the mirror that was hanging above our bed to make my board. It was an old gaudy mirror with many imperfections and stains on the glass that I purchased for about $5 at a sketchy flea market in a sketchy part of town while estate sale shopping with my grandma, aunt and uncle (shoutout to Anna and Aunt Pam, who both are avid readers of my blog!! Remember that day??)
So here's my project!
A while back, I painted the frame of the mirror weathered bronze because I thought it looked better on our bedroom wall that color (I was wrong by the way...live and learn). I didn't take a "before" picture of the mirror because I thought I had a picture of it hanging on our wall. I was wrong. But as for the first step we just took the mirror outside and sprayed the chalkboard paint on the glass. We didn't worry about taping anything off since we were painting the frame next. Then, I taped off and covered the chalkboard part, and then sprayed the frame with gold spraypaint. After that dried, unwrapping the covered part was like Christmas morning. I was excited to see how it looked. We then hung the picture on the kitchen wall where I wanted it, and then I made a satin sash to hang up, to make it appear as if the chalkboard was hanging by the ribbon (but don't worry - it's not). I absolutely love it. This was one of my most favorite projects to do, and definitely one of my most favorite results.
Here are some shots of the final product:
***Note: I had already planned (and had started) this project when I read about The Pinterest Challenge over on Young House Love (awesome blog you should check out!). They invited all their bagillion readers to participate in a Pinterest Challenge along with them as they made a clothespin chandelier for their laundry room. Check it out!
i love this! good work!
ReplyDeleteThank you Megan!
ReplyDeleteThis may be a silly question, but have you tried getting your board wet? I tried this with an old mirror and we used chalk markers (which can only be erased via wet cloth) and it removed part of the chalk paint, exposing the mirror. I wondered if you had any thoughts or suggestions. I did, however, use the brush on paint, not the spray paint. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.
ReplyDeleteCami - I have wiped my board with a wet cloth many times. I have used the markers several times too, and always wipe them with a wet cloth. I've not had any trouble with the chalkboard paint coming off. When we sprayed it, with probably sprayed 2 or 3 coats and just followed the instructions on the can religiously. You might try using the spray form of paint just right over your existing chalkboard and see how it turns out - it couldn't hurt!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading:)
Thanks for the info Leslie. This lets me know I definitely did something wrong.
ReplyDelete