We have a treat for you today on the blog–Alison of the Modern Cottage Company (and one of PI’s contributing writers) is here to share a gorgeous makeover with you today! Take it away, Alison…
Part of the fun of being a furniture painter is trying different paints. All of the girls in my shop were using General Finishes Milk Paint so I thought I should give it a try and give you my review.
I ordered my paint on Amazon.com and it came to me within five days. If you want to buy this paint locally, head over to the manufacturer website and find a retailer near you.
General Mills Milk Paint is much easier to find online, though.
I ordered the paint in Snow White. A real true white.
I figured I could use it as a base color and add other latex or acrylic paints to create different colors.
I picked up this armoire a few weeks ago and immediately thought I would paint it Snow White.
Then I thought Snow White on its own would be boring.
I mixed an equal amount of milk paint to a grey latex paint I had in my paint stash. Mixing the two created this really pretty soft grey and I painted just the top corners and sides of the piece in the new grey.
{before}
{after}
The consistency of General Finishes Milk Paint is like sour cream. It goes on smoothly and not clumpy. A little paint on your brush goes a long way. I used only a half a quart to paint this entire armoire.
A side note on this paint from ehow.com explaining that this paint isn’t a traditional or pure milk paint. “MilkPaint.com notes that milk paint sold as a liquid may have synthetic paint extenders, which means it looks like milk paint but it isn’t traditional milk paint.”
Click to here learn more about milk paint. I am not a pro on the subject of milk paint and I am still learning about it.
{I am messy with my paint cans you can see!}
Just like with Chalk Paint™, you don’t need to use a bonding primer with this paint.
See how much it covers in one coat!
I wanted a heavy distressed look so I got out my high grit sanding block and started to go to work distressing.
This paint is so durable that even with my sanding block I couldn’t easily distress it. I could have used my electric sander and saved time but when I was finishing this piece I was at my store and just wanted to get it done. I decided to wrap my sanding block with an even higher grit sand paper and I continued to distress.
This seemed to do the job {and I used 5 pieces of high grit sandpaper}.
I decided against using a wax or poly finish on the armoire for several reasons.
The first being the durability of this paint. It is actually an indoor/outdoor paint and is made for high traffic use and to withstand extreme elements.
The second reason I didn’t seal the piece was that I actually really like the finish the paint has on its own. It isn’t flat but it isn’t quite a satin…it is somewhat in the middle.
A wax and buff finish with this paint would be lovely though.
I really enjoyed working with this paint. It won’t replace my use of chalk paint or latex paint, but I will definitely use it again.
It would be fun to do a two tone piece with both milk and chalk paint then wax the entire piece.
I think I just gave myself and idea for my next post!
Thank you Shaunna and Perfectly Imperfect readers. This is one of my favorite makeovers and I enjoyed sharing it with you!
{This post was purely the opinion of Alison from The Modern Cottage Company. She was not compensated at all for her opinion}.
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Isn’t it a gorgeous piece?!? P.S. General Mills Milk Paint is a little bit different than old fashioned milk paint (similar to Miss Mustard Seed’s line she has coming out). I know the beauty of the MMS milk paint will be its unpredictability and its general chippy behavior. Excited to try it out and carry it in our local and online shops!
Thank you again, Alison! LOVE your new/old armoire!!
omg that is fantastic!!! I love this piece and it looks fabulous with that paint treatment. I can tell that milk paint is something I need to add to my repertoire…
Beautiful work! Love it! In other news…How on earth are you feeling? ;}
Hey friend, I’m making it. Literally not getting out of the bed…surgery left me feeling worse before getting better. On the way up, I hope, though!
🙂
shaunna
That’s beautiful! I haven’t tried using milk paints before, now I may just have to!:)
Ok. So chalk paint, and now milk paint. So many choices! A girl can get confused. Never heard of it. I like the look of chalk paint better. This is a bit to rugged for my taste.
Milk paint has been around forever and ever!
lol, I know what you mean. I love to try all different kinds of paint because I love painting so much. My favorite is Chalk Paint, but we also will carry Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint to create really chippy finishes. The paints are totally different and are both fun to play with. Stick with Chalk Paint if you like it better–totally up to you!
🙂
shaunna
Ohh, take a good care of yourself. Rest well. I would love to try all kinds of paint. I am ready to get my hands busy .
Oh my goodness Alison! Beautiful! Did you happen to find this one on Craigslist??? I thought I saw one like it since I’ve been looking for wardrobes for the Beach House. I still need to try Milk Paint myself and it’s always great to see the various applications. Great job and best of luck with Grand Opening tomorrow!!! 🙂
I have used milk paint for many years on several items and I love the finish I get with it. For me, it is much easier to work with than chalk paint and I think I can get a greater variety of colors and finishes. Your armoire is so pretty!!!!
The cabinet is gorgeous! General Finishes Milk Paint in my newest love. I repainted my kitchen cabinets with Snow White. (I wanted a true, bright white.) Interestingly, it isn’t milk paint at all. (The colors just mirror the old milk paint…hence the name.) It’s 100% acrylic but absolutely gorgeous coverage and very durable. I love. love. love it! I ordered mine from Rockler with a free ship code (via Google).
…and I adore the detail work on that trim! Holy beautiful.
I’ve never worked with this type of paint before, seems pretty good. I like the distressed look on the cabinet, very romantic.
WOW!!!!! What a beautiful piece!!!! I love the way the cabinet is distressed!!!!!
It looks great! You gave it a beautiful and antique look that I’m sure fits in nicely with the rest of your decor 🙂
Wow, I love the way that you restored the cabinet. it looks fantastic with the colours.
Milk Paint is awesome. We have a vendor that sells chalk paint that is similar in consistency. Your armoire looks amazing. We love to see what creative people do with creative tools. Thanks for your post.
I love this milk paint. I have to admit I had never heard of it before I read this. It gives a perfect finish for restoring old furniture and giving it that classic look.
Thanks!
Wow, that turned out beautifully. Milk paint can be tricky to make look good but you definitely hit it.
Gorgeous and so unique! Not used Milk Paint before, may just have to try 🙂
The piece came out great!!! I have tried other manufactures of milk paint. The reason I like the one I use is that it comes in a powder so it last me longer… I paint with different types of paint, milk paint, chalk paint, latex, it really depends on ‘the look’ I am going for.. There is nothing worse than starting a project and decide, no that paint wont work!! ugh