Muggly Mirror to Charming Chalkboard: under $7

About a year ago, Dad graciously gave me insisted I take home a very ugly mirror that apparently, in some moment of temporary bad judgement, he and Mom had bought at a garage sale.

It was cheaply made, an old, scratched up thing, but I duly brought it home, where it stood in a corner of my basement until I could decide if it had a use or not. For a year or so, it did not.

But I am now setting up an art room/studio in my house, and my plan is to furnish it as much as possible with things I already have, so as not to spend a lot of money on it.

An idea dropped into my head one day, to make an over sized chalkboard for the studio so I could keep track of needed supplies. I realized the ugly mirror would be the perfect starting point for it.

The project took about a morning's worth of time on a recent Saturday.

The mirror looked like this:

 

 I cleaned it up and separated the mirror from the frame.

 Sprayed the frame with blue Rustoleum paint (I used about half a can of the spray paint).

Sprayed the mirror with several coats (I used the entire can) of Rustoleum black chalkboard paint.

I placed the chalkboard back into the frame and painted 'needs & wishes' at the top, with some Apple Barrel blue paint I had on hand that was a close match to the blue Rustoleum paint. 

Cost breakdown: 

* Mirror: free. 

* Paint: under $7.

It works. I'm happy with it.