Milk Paint Renovation

A couple of years ago I found a vintage cabinet that had been a built-in in an old home.  I loved the authentic shabbiness of it, bought it, and put it in the booth.  It sat there for a year.  I put it on sale 1/2 off.  Still didn't sell.  I finally came to terms with its issues.  

It was missing a piece of molding and didn't have a back. 

I should have dealt with that when I bought it!

So I got the hubster to cut some bead board for the back and replaced the missing molding.

Now I needed to paint it.  What a great piece to try out Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint! 

I bought some Flow Blue at an antique mall and have been waiting on the right piece to try it on.  This would be great!

Now I've never used milk paint before and there was definitely a learning curve on this one.  I watched MMS videos on how to mix and use the paint, then dived in.

Here's what I learned along the way:

1.  Use HOT water to mix the paint.  On my first batch I used warm and it didn't dissolve all the mix and I ended up with paste at the bottom of the cup.  I used hot tap water the second time and it mixed much faster and easier.

2.  It's hard to figure out how much paint to mix, but you want to mix enough for the project.  I didn't mix enough and had to mix a second batch and it didn't have the same color properties, almost like a different dye lot.  I ended up having to mix a third batch and repaint the whole thing so the color was consistent.

3.  Use a drop cloth and cover anything you don't want painted.  This paint is runny and I found myself making a mess with drips, which I normally don't have problems with when painting with regular paint. 

Otherwise, I love the rich, saturated color.  

Kinda hard to tell in these pictures, but it's almost a peacock blue color.

Of course the best thing about this paint is its natural chippiness.

At first I was afraid it wouldn't chip, but it did!

MMS Milk Paint turned this ok piece into an ahhh piece!

I topped it off with a coat of clear wax and it's now back in the shop.  

And now it's not embarrassed to be there!

Showing off at these parties: