Turn an old mirror into a chalkboard |

I know what you’re thinking. You are thinking that the Internet DOES NOT need another tutorial on how to make something into a chalkboard! But I just had to, you guys! This is a special chalkboard, and here’s why.

Just recently the hubs and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Whether it’s dorky or not, I like to follow along with the traditional wedding anniversary gift guidelines. You know, paper the first year, cotton the second year, etc. Anyway, the traditional gift for 5 years of marriage is something made of wood, and I knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do for it. Aaannndd it also involved going antiquing. 😀

That solid and heavy maple framed mirror above cost $29 at my local antiques co-op. Free would be better, but still not a bad price at all. And it was the perfect shape for a chalkboard whose destination will ultimately be our kitchen… someday when it’s finished. 😉

So this tutorial involves 2 tutorials rolled into one. The first – how to make your own chalkboard paint with the color of your choice and non-sanded grout. The second – how to create a distressed or antiqued look to an item using vaseline.

Ready? Let’s gather some materials, shall we?

For the homemade chalkboard paint you will need:

Flat paint in the color of your choice. (How much you will need depends on the surface area you need to cover. For my project I purchased a small color sample jar from the Home Depot for less than $3, (which measures out to be a cup) and I was able to get 2 thick coats out of it. And like I said, you can choose whichever color you like, but I went with the classic black – in this case it was Beluga from Behr.)
White non-sanded grout. (You can find this in the tile flooring section of your home improvement store. It cost me about $5. I have pretty much the entire box of grout left over from this project, but I’m not worried because I have a bathroom to tile in the near future!).

Recipe: 1 cup of paint + 2 tablespoons of non-sanded grout + some mad mixing skills = Chalkboard Paint! It will be a bit gritty, even as you apply it, but don’t worry. It will all smooth out in the end with a little sanding.

For giving a distressed or antiqued look to your frame you will need:

Primer. I used Kilz original OIL-BASED primer. The oil-based is what you want if you are priming over stained wood like mine. Otherwise, water-based will work just fine for already painted or non-stained wood.
Peek-a-boo paint color. This is the color you want on the bottom layer to peek through after distressing. I had a creamy white on hand already from a previous project – Clear Moon is the name.
Vaseline
Top coat paint color. Another nifty sample sized jar in Antique Red. After 2 coats of that I still have about 3/4 of the sample left to be destined for a future project. 🙂
Very Fine grit sandpaper (220).

Steps:

1. Remove the backing from your mirror and see what you have to work with. After taking the back off of mine I saw (just as I suspected), that the back of the mirror was already a nice and smooth already primed grey surface. Perfect! Make sure it’s clean, then start slapping some chalkboard paint on it. (And this is great news for the mirror on the front because one day, if you feel you need a change and want the mirror back, it’s still there waiting to be looked in!) After putting on the first coat, wait about an hour, then put on the second. *I started with a roller, but wasn’t a fan of the dotted look it was leaving, so I switched to a paint brush. It still left small ridges, but I personally liked the old-timey look it gave. *If you are painting a light colored chalkboard, however, I would suggest priming the surface white before you go ahead with the chalkboard paint.

2. Now onto the frame. Give it a good 2 coats of primer, then once dry, decide where you would like to apply your peek-a-boo paint color. You could paint the entire frame if you wanted, but I decided to apply 2 coats of paint with a Q-tip to the areas where I wanted to distress. For me this meant all outer and inner edges, including the cutout shape at the top. After that dries, take some vaseline on your finger and rub it onto all of the places where you painted your peek-a-boo color. You won’t need a lot of vaseline. You don’t want it to be gobby, but you don’t want it to be too dry either. Somewhere in the middle, and you should be just fine.

3. Apply 2 coats of your top coat color letting dry completely after the 2nd coat. Once dry, take a piece of sand paper to the places where you spread your vaseline. The paint will come off pretty effortlessly! Lookin’ good Nick! Keep sanding! But we aren’t done yet…

4. Back to your chalkboard. Give it a good sanding, making sure to sand in the same direction as you painted. This will get rid of those tiny gritty bumps, as well as sand down the ridges. I kept some shallow ridges in my board just because I liked how it looked. Give it a wipe-down with a wet cloth then let dry a few minutes. Now… THIS NEXT STEP IS IMPORTANT! Seriously, you don’t want all of your hard work to be for nothing! You want to prep, or season, your chalkboard before you write on it. If you don’t, the ghost of whatever you write or draw on it will show through forever! No amount of water and soap will remove it. Soooooo, to prep your chalkboard you simply rub the sides of a few pieces of chalk over the entire surface of the board. I went from the top to the bottom, then side to side, just to make sure I had the whole thing covered. Erase with a piece of cloth or some felt, and you are good to put it all back together. I decided to use upholstery tacks to nail the backing back on. Unlike the staples that I pulled out in the beginning, I can re-use the tacks to put the backing back on one day if I want to switch it back to being a mirror.