Milk Paint Dresser

When I was visiting my local Woodcraft store about a month ago, I thought I'd pick up some milk paint.  I didn't have any specific piece of furniture I wanted to paint with it, but I've always wanted to try it and bought it on a whim...

After deliberating for a while on all the color options, I picked up the "Sea Green" color, which is more of a dark, slate-blue to me...

After what seems like finding nothing but armoires and wardrobes lately, I've been on a hunt for affordable dressers for Luckett's since I didn't have a single one!  I got lucky and found this beauty on Craig's List and knew I was going to try that milk paint on this piece.  Although I don't have a before picture (big regret), envision about 5 layers of stain that were applied so horribly that there were huge discolored, raised areas on the surface.  This top took me quite a while to strip down, but it was worth it to get down to the natural wood...

I sealed and buffed with a couple layers of Myland's wax and then set about on my first milk paint experiment.  Since it comes in powder form, there is lots of mixing and to be honest, this was the most challenging part of the process.  I seriously felt like I could never get the lumps out even after mixing it slowly and following all the directions.  I would still use this paint, but I'm eager to try out Miss Mustard Seed's new milk paint line to see if it's a tad easier to mix.  Even though there were some small lumps that still went onto the dresser, it was pretty easy to gently sand them out.  On another note, this paint doesn't smell like any other paint out there.  I was reminiscing the entire time painting this dresser because it smelled so much like this...

One of my main chores growing up on a dairy farm was mixing up and feeding powdered milk replacer to the sweet little baby calves...kind of like baby formula for calves!  Ah, I miss those days.  Anyway, I digress...  Milk paint is so unpredictable and you never know where it's going to crackle up or even peel in places, but after panicking a bit, I just went with it...

After drying, I simply sealed with a coat of wax, buffed to a nice sheen, and added some new knobs and painted over some of the existing knobs with ASCP Old White....

I just love these secret little compartments built into the mirror...so unique.  Overall, I'm really lovin' milk paint and I can't wait to try out all the different brands and colors.  This dresser will be on it's way to Luckett's Spring Market in less than a week and I'm off to go finish all those last minute projects!

Kristen


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Metamorphisis Monday
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Cedar Hill Ranch
Savvy Southern Style