DIY Chalkboard Upcycled Mirror

Hey kids! It's (How)Tuesday. I haven't done a how-to post in a while but felt inspired to bust one out today even though on this project what I really learned was what not to do. Don't worry. Doing it right it's not super elaborate or time consuming, but I think it made a big improvement. I had everything on hand so it was free to do which was an extra bonus, especially since I think I'll need to do it right one more time if I want it to be perfect.

I started with this fabulous mirror a mirror with a similar vibe to this one that my mom pulled out of someone's dumpster or off their curb or something. I forgot to include the picture and it's on my laptop which is in intensive care at the moment.

Interesting note: I had to image search "etched mirror goose" to find that image. If you image search "duck mirror" you get a TON of pictures of this

Anyway, she left the mirror on my porch and I poached it. I figure if I make use of it becomes mine. Adverse possession and whatnot. 

I gave it a quick coat of chalkboard paint (no primer, no nothing) and sent this text.



I gave it a couple more coats and left it on the porch for a month or so before I got back to it. Hence the date of that text relative to now. I have a baby, okay?

When I did I noticed that it had some serious brushstrokes.


See those little lines? They looked worse in person and something told me they might be a little problematic for writing. I did some internet research and found this helpful tutorial.

Turns out you should, at least theoretically, use primer and a foam brush and apply the coats are right angles to each other. Not exactly earth shattering, but potentially important. I sanded the surface in a circular motion with a sanding block to smooth out the lines until it felt smooth and gave it another coat with a foam brush and perpendicular to the previous ones. in case you're curious I didn't have any issues with the paint standing up to sanding even without primer so I'd just skip it out of laziness. It probably really still needs another coat of paint to be totally smooth, but I decided to hang it up instead. Perfect is the enemy of done and done is pretty important to me at the moment.

Here it is above my mantel.

Stay tuned for my fall mantel reveal next week. I'm going to join a link party on Centsational Girl on the 25th.