i didn't take any pictures in progress because i was too busy trying to make sure the project didn't become a craft fail. let me explain...
1st i started painting the frame heirloom white. then i realized i paint too many things heirloom white & it's getting boring. especially since my dining room walls [where i want to hang the chalkboard] are essentially heirloom white. as a bonus though, the frame did fit perfectly between two windows. seriously, a perfect fit.
so i started trying to sand off the heirloom white, only to realize that the grooves of the frame are way too small for my belt sander & it was really hard to get much of it off. i got about 75% of it off, stained it with minwax dark walnut & called it a day.
i didn't want to have to cut a sheet of wood to size, so i primed & spray painted the glass only to realize when i tried to pick it up that the glass is what makes huge frames so heavy. that's ok because the other thing that happened when i tried to pick up the glass is that it shattered into about 10 pieces.
well, fantastic.
thankfully, i had traced the glass on a piece of plywood just in case before i thought that the glass would work better [hah!] & my lovely hubby cut it for me. a little sanding of the edges later, it fit like a charm & i primed & chalkboard painted it, no problem.
it ended up working fine, but as a sidenote, the wood was not nearly as thick as the glass, so it didn't end up clipping neatly back into the frame like the glass would have. the clippy thingies are bent a little further in than they should be & i'm always worried the wood will separate from the frame. so far, so good though.
here she is: