Thrifty Project Challenge: Mirror Frame Upcycle

About 2-3 times per month I find myself at the local thrift store, perusing the aisles for a thrifty project. A while back I found this old mirror frame - snagged it for a whopping $3.50.

The old mirror frame was MDF and the black backing was the standard backing board that helps keep the mirror in place. It was really big - 4 feet tall by 2 1/2 feet wide.

I had a few ideas that I bounced around with on Pinterest - would it be a command center, a calendar, a menu board, an epic picture frame? I finally decided on a menu board. I cook all of our meals at home but almost daily I find myself at a loss for what to cook tonight. Planning ahead for the week keeps me on task and I've been able to reduce our grocery store visits to about once a week; sometimes only once every two weeks!

I hadn't played around with chalk paint before so after giving this dusty old frame a good wipe down I gave it a layer of Walmart brand Chalk paint in Parisian Gray. I know, Annie Sloan is the typical favorite when it comes to chalk paint but I decided that I was up for the challenge of keeping this a low budget project and seeing how the less expensive stuff turns out.

My local Wal-Mart carries an inexpensive chalk paint so I picked up a bottle of Parisian Gray and clear wax to seal it. I gave the frame a couple lights coats of the gray, allowed it to dry (chalk paint dries very quickly) and I decided on a whim to give it a quick brushing of standard black latex paint that I had laying around from a previous project. I focused on antiquing the edges and design on the top and I quickly wiped most of the excess black paint off. This gave the frame a really aged stonelike look. Because of the incredibly low investment that I had in the mirror frame I decided to use what I had on hand, albeit unconventional for chalk paint projects. I was actually really pleased with the outcome!

To create the chalk board I used Valspar chalk board paint, which I purchased at Lowe's. They have it available in spray paint or liquid paint form and I chose the liquid paint because I can think of a few more projects that I could use it for. This took about 6 layers to create a thick, smooth layer that is perfect for writing with chalk.

For a super thrifty find and about $20 in paint supplies - I don't think it turned out half bad!