I found this cute little mirror frame at a garage sale, it was missing it's mirror and one of it's decorative finials, so I gave it a new life as a fun blackboard sign for my art/craft/sewing room.
This mirror frame was off an old dressing table, it would have sat suspended between two turned posts and pivoted back and forward to adjust for the user.
Here it is as I found it with the addition of a new finial that my hubby turned for me on his wood lathe - I think he did a great job at matching the original one in shape. The frame also had some lovely carved detail on the top and some nice ribbed detail on each side.
Here is a close up of the new finial and I also had to fill some holes someone had drilled in it with wood putty, that I then sanded back to match the ribbed detail when dry.
I gave the whole frame a light scuff with an old kitchen scourer and wipe down with a damp cloth. Then I gave it 2 coats of white chalk paint followed by some dark glaze, especially in the crevices and carved areas to give some character.
I cut a piece of wood to match the frame size and painted it with chalkboard paint.
Once dry I used a stencil I bought online that I felt went well in the room it was to hang it since it had a theme related to sewing and arts and crafts. I used a stencil brush and white paint plus some gold acrylic paint for some of the words to add interest.
I used a small paintbrush with more white paint to fill in the spaces in the design left by the stencil so it would look hand painted.
I lightly scuffed some areas to give a more irregular chalk effect then framed the board using some small nails to hold in in place, added two hangers and some picture wire to hang it by.
The little $6 frame now has a new lease on life.
