A Happy Accident Chalkboard & A New Party

A couple weeks ago when I painted my nightstands with glossy red oil based paint to prepare them for gold leafing, I also painted a large mirror frame.  I figured I would gold leaf that as well if I had enough leafing left.  I ended up with only a few sheets left which was not enough to get around this frame which is about 3 feet tall and 2 1/2 feet wide.  Of course I don't have a before picture, but just picture a plain maple hued molding style mirror frame.  It also had a backing, but the mirror had broken (before I got it).  So I thought it was kind of cool in the glossy red, but I wasn't in love- I wanted gold!  Luckily, I had a can of gold spray paint on hand.  I don't know what brand- it was the generic brand available at Michael's.

Anyhow, I had liked the red showing through on my nightstands as seen here:

So I thought I would paint them with the gold over the red, distress to show the red and be all set.  But the gold paint had other plans....  When I sprayed it over the red oil paint (which had been dry for almost a week!) something in the paints didn't agree and the gold crackled in some areas.  But guess what... I really liked it and thought it looked super cool!

So I continued on with my project! :)  I used the backing of the mirror and trimmed it slightly with my circular saw so that it would fit into the mirror inset of the frame.  After it was trimmed I painted it with two coats of chalkboard paint, added it to the frame, added some hangers to the back of the frame, and voila, project complete!

And here are some detail shots so you can see the effect the paints caused....

See- the crackling is subtle, not everywhere and looks cool!  This huge chalkboard will be for sale in the shop soon!  Though I really wish I had a place for it.

Also wanted to let you know that we have a new link party at The DIY Club for all you pinners out there.  Here are the details!

Here is a fun new party to get us all inspired and find some new creative types to follow with Pinterest! Here is the scoop on

The PINTEREST Project at The DIY Club!

On the first Monday of every month we will post the theme for the upcoming month. Some months will have colors, some seasons, some – well who knows that is part of the surprise!

The theme for February is RED!

 Now, are you ready for the RED PARTY now?

The RULES – Here’s what you have to do:
1 – CREATE a Pin Board (on Pinterest) and name it: I {heart} RED at The DIY Club
2 -FOLLOW The DIY Club on Pinterest
3 – Make your first pin the link to THIS POST AND USE THIS PIN IT BUTTON RIGHT HERE TO DO SO! Pin It

4 – Fill your board up with RED inspiration Include anything RED that inspires you (clothing, accessories, crafts, furniture, repurposed items – you name it, it just has to be RED!)

5 - Link it up – link the url of your “I {heart} RED at The DIY Club” pin board to the linky here (PLEASE LINK YOUR PIN BOARD…not your blog)

Schedule:
First Monday: Theme is announced
Second Monday: Linky Opens
Third Monday (at midnight PST): Party closes
Fourth Monday: Features and maybe a hint to the next months theme!
We will feature THREE – 3 – Boards!
Just remember to follow the RULES for a chance to be featured.
And in the meantime we will all find new fabulous boards to follow and inspiration to inspire out creativity!
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