Milk Paint Life Lessons

So I have a few milk paint life lessons to share with you. I know milk paint has a mind of its own and usually throws a curve in each one of my projects but my recent Miss Mustard Seed milk paint project totally went hay wire. ;) 

I chose this sweet little desk with a lovely medium stained finish to relove in Miss Mustard Seed's linen milk paint. I have used this color before on this gorgeous dining table, this cute cedar chest and knew it would look lovely with this stain color. I also wanted a bit of chipping to bring out the wood/linen combination.

After the table was scrubbed well, I mixed up my paint sans bonding agent. (this will be lesson #1 coming later) and put on the first coat. Once it dried there was a wee bit of chipping when I sponge sanded, perfect. Time for the second coat to get a nice linen color.

But the second coat began to chip even heavier.. opps!

I sanded it well when dry and decided to embrace the extreme chippy look

I added Homestead House furniture wax over all then used their espresso and black waxes to age the piece more. (lesson #2) Indeed it was very chippy but in a unique farmhouse way.

So I hauled it in and snapped a few shots. The next day when I added another coat of clear wax I found the whole desk flaking off more milk paint chunks. Hold Up..

Here is where I share the life lessons this project taught me about milk paint

1- if you want some chippy areas, use Fusion's beeswax finish and rub where you would like the wood areas to show thru. Check out how to use on this great tutorial blog by Q is for Quandie. Fusion also carries Fusion's beeswax bar which is best for distressing : exact lines or between two colors of paint.

2- then add Homestead House's bonding agent to your paint mix to ensure the milk paint remains where you want it to be

3- if milk paint chooses to chip, use Fusion's tough coat to seal, this will lock the paint/chippy areas in place and add durability, I could have used it on this table but I chose wax ;/

4- furniture wax is great if the milk paint surface is adhered well

5- the disaster can be fixed!! wipe the entire surface down with mineral spirits to remove the wax, use a plastic scraper to lift all loosened bits then scrub with a brush and water. this step seemed to reactivate the milk paint and allowed it to brush off fairly easily now and I was back to the original finished table ready to try a new plan.

6- thanks to the natural biodegradable ingredients in milk paint, the mess of fixing the issues of the day were not a worry when scraping and washing the piece clean!

Stay tuned for plan B for this sweet desk and I hope my life lessons save you having to learn them the hard way.. just go with beeswax finish and bonding agent folks!

~disclosure~

Please note that although this post is Fusion Mineral paint sponsored, all opinions are my own. No monetary compensation has been received.