Do you ever need a vacation after you take a vacation? Mr. Fanatic took last week off to do projects around the house and he now needs a vacation. A RELAXING vacation. Spreading 23 + yards of mulch is hard work. (That's about 621 bags for those of you who get bags of mulch.) So thankful our daughter helped us. As if that weren't enough, Mr. F picked up a couple of yards of cypress chips for our path, then several yards of composted horse manure for our organic raised beds. In addition to the mulch, chips and compost, Mr. F finished installing our gas cooktop and helped me with an easy project that's been on my project list for several months. I found this mirror on Craigslist awhile back and it's been so long I can't remember what I paid for it. I'm pretty sure it was $55 or $65. First thing you need to do if you want to transform a mirror to a framed chalkboard is to take off the hanger... ...and all the staples in the backing. The mirror was held in by some spacers which we took out. We bought a full 4'x8' sheet of hardboard for $13.47 at Lowe's and had them cut it into pieces. The surface was roughed up with a sanding block and then primed with Zinser. I decided to buy a quart of chalkboard paint in a can rather than chalkboard paint in a spray can. Sometimes spray paint can be a little tricky with coverage. After putting the first coat of chalkboard paint, I knew I would need several more to get good coverage. After a few more coats (for a total of 4), the board looked perfect. After drying overnight, the board was chalked... ...then wiped off. I put two 3/16" boards in the frame so that I wouldn't have the spacers in between the painted board and the backing. All finished! Now, all I need to do is write a great quote on it. I've since painted the frame with chalk paint, but left a little of the gold showing through You can find how I did that HERE Pam