MMS Milk Paint Turns Seven
I’ve been busy painting in the USA! Well, also visiting with family, but wait till you see what fun we’ve been having with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint.
This week, Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint turns 7 years old! I first became aware of Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint while following Marian Parson’s “Miss Mustard Seed” home decor blog about 7 years ago.
I remember falling in love with the beautiful patina and aged effects that Marian showed us with this new paint line that she was going to carry. I couldn’t wait to try it for myself, and at that time, the brand was only new to the USA & Canada, so it hadn’t reached us Down Under here in Australia yet. But I did find one seller who was able to ship me some samples to try here. And then as providence would have it – my sister and her family were taking a trip to the USA, and so I put in my request for her to bring me back some of the cute little brown boxes of Milk Paint in a few different colours!
I still have those original packages here as a reminder of my first love of painting with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint.
My first colours I bought were Boxwood, Mustard Seed Yellow, Flow Blue and Tricycle. Having the experience with Milk Paint that I do now, I would probably not have chosen Tricycle to be my very first Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint trial run. Haha. If you have not used Milk Paint before, each colour can be slightly different in it’s performance and mixing ability because the colours differ in the pigments used to create the paint powder. Tricycle Red, with it’s high red pigment content tends to be very very light and wispy and tricky to mix into the water, taking a little extra time for the pigment to saturate. It all worked out in the end, and as you’ll see in my original blog post, and my first tutorial video (wow, now that’s going back a few!), I made a few rookie mistakes, and had a bit of a laugh at getting the formula totally wrong!
Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Mixing Ratio
Back when Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint first came out, the ratio they gave us for mixing was a little different than it is today. Below is a copy of the cute little card that came in every box, showing the ratio as 1.5 parts warm water to 1 part milk paint powder.
Today, making it more simplified, we mix an equal parts ratio of paint powder to water. Either way, I still tend to go by the “feel” of the mixture and the consistency – looking for a steady stream of paint coming off your brush like pouring cream – not too runny, not too thick.
My first Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Tutorial – don’t laugh!
Here’s a look back at my first Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint tutorial using, of all colours, Tricycle, to makeover a display cabinet:
My First Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Project – a Tricycle Red Cabinet.
And here’s the accompanying video tutorial, which you’ll also see in the blog link above, but I’ve added it here for you just in case you wanted to go straight to the visual.
Painting in the USA
As I type, I am still in the USA, visiting with family and will be attending a business conference at the end of our trip. See blog post here for details of my trip.
While at my sister-in-law’s house in North Carolina last week, she had me paint two of her pieces in Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint. Paula has a beautiful home in Farmhouse style and loves the rustic chippy look, so she was happy for a distressed look on both pieces.
The 1970s TV Cabinet
The first piece, this 1970s TV Cabinet belonged to my brother-in-law’s mom, who passed a year and a half ago. He wanted to keep this piece to remember her, but Paula knew it had to have an update in order for it to fit in to their home.
Well, with a little help from Miss Mustard Seed’s Luckett’s Green and some black wax for the details, here is the fabulous results.
I’ll be creating a more detailed tutorial in the future when we have time after our trip to edit some great video footage Marty took for me during the process.
I just love how the milk paint naturally crackled over the patina of the original finish (below), especially with the addition of the black wax. *Note: colour is a little off in this image due to lighting conditions.
The Bombay Chest
This piece has had my attention since the last time I visited Paula for Christmas 2016. It has such beautiful carved details and ready for a change of colour to fit in with their home.
Using Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint, Paula chose Outback Petticoat for this piece, and said she didn’t mind a bit of chipping and aging. Well, I’m glad, because this one had a surface that was ready to resist any paint!
I prepped well, by scuffing the surface all over with my Sandi Hands sanding glove, and wiping down well. Additionally, I added a little bonding agent to the mixed milk paint, to help with adhesion – I didn’t use as much as the bottle suggests, and in hindsight, maybe should have used a little more. But both Paula and I were happy with the beautiful finish!
I painted the top in a matte black chalkboard paint that Paula had on hand as I didn’t bring any black paint with me from Australia. I also added black wax, creating more depth in all of the details, as well as toning down the orange a little to fit in with the other terracotta colours going on in their living area. What do you think??
I hope you enjoyed these makeovers. As I said, I’ll be editing video once we get back to Australia, so stay tuned for those. Painting in the USA with my sis-in-law has been a blast!
We’re really enjoying our time here, visiting with family and seeing a lot of where Marty and his sister grew up on the farm in Emmett, Idaho. I’ve been posting a lot of stories on Instagram and Facebook if you want to see some more of things I’m seeing on our trip.
