How to Upcycle an Old Mirror into a Chalkboard
Since the arrival of our newborn baby girl, I've been on a DIY break. As you can imagine, life with two little ones under three is a little chaotic. The days blend into nights and before I knew it, two months had already gone by. As the dust begins to settles and I've started to adjust to my new normal, I've been bitten by the DIY bug again.
I've been dying to get my hands dirty and as I was deciding what to do with an old mirror I had laying around, it hit me, I should turn it into a pretty chalkboard for the nursery. It was the perfect 30 minute project to get my feet wet again.
Here is what you will need:
Mirror
Chalkboard paint
Foam brush or roller
Spray paint of your choice (not required) - if you want to give your frame a little makeover. I used Rustoleum's Pure Gold spray paint.
Now that you have your supplies ready. It's time to get DIYing! I've been saving this mirror for such a long time with the intention of spray painting the frame a dark pink color and hanging it the nursery if we ever had a baby girl. When I found out that we were having a girl I was excited to finally put my vision to life. But once I started working on the nursery, the mirror just didn't work in the space that I wanted it in, so back to storage it went.
What the mirror looked like before
As I've been spending a lot of time in the nursery lately, #latenightfeedinds, I stared at this corner and felt that it looked a little bare. I started to brainstorm what I could do to dress this little area up and came up with the perfect solution.
BEFORE
Steps:
Step 1: Remove the back by unscrewing the screws along the edges to reveal the back of the mirror.
Step 2: Carefully remove the mirror from the frame. If you are choosing to spray paint the frame, this is the time to do so! I used my favorite gold spray paint from Rustoleum - Pure Gold. I simply took it outside and gave it two quick coats.
Step 3: I decided to paint the back of the mirror. If I ever wanted to turn it into a mirror again, all I would have to do was to simply turn it around. I started by cleaning the back surface with a microfiber cloth and water just to make sure I had a clean surface for my chalkboard paint to stick to.
Step 4: Paint! I did three coats of chalkboard paint to get that nice chalkboard surface. The key is to do very thing, light coats, allowing the paint to dry completely between coats. I waited about 30 minutes between in each coat and waited a couple of hours after the final coat before I actually drew on it with chalk.
First Coat
Second Coat
Third Coat
Step 5: Re-assemble and enjoy! After waiting for everything to fully dry, I put everything back together by screwing the backing back on the frame.
On the opposite side of the wall, I hung three hooks so that she could hang some aprons or dress up clothes. It was the last finishing touch to finish off this little corner of the nursery.
This was such a simple DIY that can be used in any part of your home with any mirror, new or old. It would also look great in a kitchen where you could write out your meals or groceries needed, in an office to brainstorm ideas, or a playroom!
