A Chair and some Milk Paint

This chair, I found at one of many spots that I frequent, and don’t ask me which one, because I really can’t remember! But if you check out my guide Top 10 Places to Find Furniture to Restore, I can guarantee it was one of these.

Prep

To prep this piece, all I did was give it a scuff sanding with my Sandi Hands sanding glove, and wiped it down. I wasn’t too worried about getting all the nitty gritty details cleaned up as I was hoping for a bit of chippiness to happen.

Haha – see the back leg of the chair was already being painted when I suddenly remembered to take a “Before” photo!

Mixing Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint

You can view one of my Youtube channel tutorials here on how I usually mix milk paint if you haven’t used it before. It’s basically mixing equal parts water to the Milk Paint powder, but here’s a visual if you need a bit more guidance.

I applied two coats of Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint in Grainsack (colour) allowing it to dry thoroughly in between coats.

After allowing the two coats to dry, a quick inspection revealed some paint chipping in random areas, like this …Here’s the chair without any sanding or distressing, but having just allowed the Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint to sit and crackle and chip as it is drying.

Sanding to Distress

Now was the fun part. Some people like to flick off the chipping bits with their fingers, some like to use a blade or scraper to remove the chippy flakes. I just used my Sanding Glove using a fine grit (approx 320) and gently rubbed all over the piece, removing the chippy paint and distressing the edges of the piece a little more where the paint wasn’t coming away so easily. As you can see, it’s nice and chippy in some areas, but more solid in other areas.
See how it chipped more readily around the base of the spindles across the back? I’d say this is where more grime had built up along with the fact that I perhaps didn’t sand as closely to these edges or as thoroughly as other areas.

But that’s not all folks …

But that wasn’t all I had planned for this plain little “Captain’s chair”… what about a couple of Old Sign Stencils? Like this Route 66 Stencil, designed by the lovely Donna Williams from Funky Junk Interiors. (Aussies, you can purchase some of Donna’s designs by special order in my online shop, via the links in this paragraph.)

I painted the stencils using Fusion Mineral Paint’s colour, Coal Black using my Cling On! brush – I usually use one of the round brushes and grip the bristles about halfway down for a better result for stencilling. For more pro stencilling tips, check out my post HERE.

And an Old Sign Chair was born …

I also used the Antiques & Collectables Stencil across the back of the chair. I was inspired by some of Donna’s work where she uses her stencils in this random fashion to make it look as though the timber has come from an old crate or vintage sign.

A Final Finish for our Milk Painted Chair

To seal my lovely chippy chair, I gave it a brush all over with Miss Mustard Seed’s Tough Coat Sealer or Fusion’s Tough Coat Wipe on Poly. This helps to seal in the chippy areas, to avoid any further chipping, and gives it a lovely matte finish to the porous milk painted surface. If I’m using the Tough Coat sealer on a larger flat surface, like a table top, I prefer to use a “wipe on” method rather than a paint brush for a super smooth finish. You can check out how I do that HERE.
Here it is placed along side my Outback Dresser painted in Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint colour, Outback Petticoat. You can read about that dresser makeover here where I also give you tips on how to create this layered two-tone look using Hemp Oil. Well, if you have never used Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint before, I hope you’ll give it a try. It’s not just used to create the chippy worn look, you can get lovely full coverage on most surfaces by using Miss Mustard Seed’s Bonding Agent, allowing the milk paint to adhere well to many surfaces.

Have you used Milk Paint before? Or have you yet to try this type of furniture paint?

Let me know in the comments below. What are your hesitations, if any? What do you like about Milk Paint?

For info about the Difference between Milk Paint, Chalk Paint & Fusion Mineral Paint, here’s an indepth look at all three types.

Happy painting!

Sharon.