The One Where I Turned An Old Mirror Into a Chalkboard

So I've decided summer time is an overly ambitious time to try and start a blog.  I've noticed that a lot of the regular blogs I like to read really slow down this time of year...so of course it makes total sense that I would try and get in the habit of it now. At any rate, I'm not giving up - so for the 3 of you who are kind enough to actually come back and check my site on a somewhat-regular-basis thank you for being patient and I ask you to please not judge me too harshly or give up on me during the next two months.

See, the thing is, Portland has this way of only liking to be continuously sunny for about one month (sometimes two...with a week of showers in between) per year... the rest of the time you get a break here and there (which undoubtedly are perfectly gorgeous - I always say...that when it's beautiful in Portland, there really is no better place to be) but mostly us Oregonians are in the habit of waiting...and waiting...and waiting some more...for the sun.  And it's pretty much like clock work - I always think it's going to be great starting in May (we usually get some random nice week in there that makes everyone overly hopeful that THIS will be the year it will be sunny for longer) and then it goes back to rain...and then by the grace of God 4th of July hits and it turns perfect for that month (or two).  So anyway, it's that time of year now...which means I have about 14 back-logged things to blog about...but rather than sitting down to actually catch up, I just keep going out and doing more things.

Anyway, I'll catch up eventually.

In fact, my goal is to write a few right now...we'll see how long I last.  I'm not typing this inside, obviously - I'm sitting outside on a lawn chair tanning - multi-tasking, of course...It's what I do best.

Anyway - I wanted to share my latest pinterest craft!  As you know (because I mention it in almost every post - you're probably all like yeah yeah we get it...and are you ever even going to finish that thing? Well remember how it's sunny out - and also that bonus room is huge...) at any rate, one of the things on this past week's agenda was for my mom to go through a rather large stack of old pictures, frames, mirrors, basically just a big pile of wall hanging "stuff"...I envisioned us getting rid of almost all of it...but then as we started going through it we decided on only getting rid of like 2 or 3 things and that instead I should do some refurbishing on most of them.  So that's what I'm doing!! Just add that to the list of projects, crafts and to-dos...

So alas, refurbish wall hanging task #1 of 12....Old mirror turned vintage chalk board!!!

I went to Home Depot to purchase paint -
I picked out the chalk board paint I wanted (who knew there were so many options!! Spray on kind, kind that you can tint colors, etc...)
I picked paint-on black - just the basic original.

And for the boarder of the mirror I wanted something that would be really light and vintage looking...I decided on BEIR - Vienna Lace.  I saw a commercial on BEIR paint recently that advertised it being an all-in-one paint...meaning primer included...I'm in!!

Here is a quick snap shot of all my goodies pre-project.

Here is a quick run down of what I did:

1.  I painted a first coat on the frame (free hand - no taping) -- that meant I got a little paint on the mirror but because I was painting over it with chalk board paint I didn't worry about it.
2.  Let that dry and painted a second coat on it.
3. Once the second coat dried I used blue masking tape and taped one long strip all the way around that inner edge of the frame - that way when I painted the mirror it wouldn't get on the inside part of the frame.
4. I painted a first coat of chalk board paint all over the mirror and let that dry.
5. I painted a second coat of chalk board paint on the mirror. 
6. Once it was dry I pealed off the tape (a helpful tip - do this very slow and carefully...the chalk board paint peals off easily if the tape lifts it...) and DONE!

Of course I immediately had to go grab my chalk and test it out...so fun and so cute!!!  It was hanging up on the wall within minutes of being finished and I absolutely love it!!