The Boho Coffee Table Milk Paint Experiment

I’m linking up with Silver Pennies Sundays Link Party for this post:

I had been wanting to do something in this particular style for some time, and finally thought I’d found a coffee table I could make it work on. I had seen rustic looking tables and cabinets in furniture stores for a while, with painted reclaimed timber or faux reclaimed timber, heavily distressed and layered, but couldn’t think of a name for the style I was looking for when it came to searching for similar styles on the internet.

I came kind of close with this coffee table I saw:

[Image source: http://designingpart.com]

I thought I’d try using a few of Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint colours to create a beachy Boho vibe on this old orange pine coffee table I came across in my recent furniture haul:

I took it outside for a bit of a sanding down to get rid of the old varnished top. I didn’t need to go back to raw wood since I was going to be painting most of it, so a rough sanding was all it needed with my orbital sander.

I used these MMSMP colours:

Left to right: Dried Lavender (now discontinued); Eulalie’s Sky; Flow Blue.

I trimmed the outside borders in Farmhouse White.
On the side panels, I layered paint using Farmhouse White, then used hemp oil as a resist between the layers, finishing with the 3 colours over the top. You can see the oily bits where I used the hemp oil randomly in the pic below.
Below you can see the side panels after sanding back to reveal some of the white underneath. I sanded a little heavier in some parts to reveal timber also.

To find out more about using hemp oil as a resist between layers, I have a detailed post HERE as well as a tutorial video.I finished the painting off with a bit of dry brushing using Farmhouse white. You can see below the whitish streaks adding a bit of a beachy look. Dry brushing is fairly easy. Just dip the ends of your brush in the paint, then dab or wipe it off onto a newspaper or cloth so that the bristles appear dry but still have paint on them. Then do a wispy sideways motion with your brush across your piece to the desired effect.To seal the whole table, I used Miss Mustard Seed’s Tough Coat Sealer (same product as Fusion’s Tough Coat). I used a Cling On brush to apply the sealer, but you can also use a damp rag to apply which will give you a super smooth finish especially good method for using on smooth painted pieces. And for a bit of styling …

See the Dried Lavender colour in the front of the table, matching my faux dried lavender. I love how my friend Dana’s painting fits with the beachy themed colours. You can find some of her beautiful prints here.