Milk Painted Patio Tables AKA Wooden Spools

Check out my freshly painted patio tables created from wooden utility spools.

I live on the Canadian prairies and our fairly new home was built in the middle of a hay field. This means we get ALLOT of wind so everything we have outside needs to be sturdy (or stacked when not in use like the Adirondack chairs)

We use these wood utility spools for tables around our fire pit and on our deck. They are however lacking personality. Bring on the paint!

As in all projects the first step is a good deep clean. I used a hose and scrub brush along with a bucket of soapy water but a pressure washer works great too.

Flip so all sides get a good scrub.

Let them dry well and make any repairs, this one had a board lifting so it was glued and nailed back in place.

I chose milk paint for these two projects. Milk paint works really well on raw wood absorbing into the fibers for great adherence.

This one was painted solid in Homestead House Milk Paint laurentien then Homestead House Milk Paint Quaker blue dry brushed over it. I love the dimension it creates.

This one was done in colors I had wee bits left of in my fridge. TIP: keep milk paint in fridge is you have any remainder and it can be used many weeks later.

The colors used are Homestead House Milk Paint Loyalist, Renfrew blue, Quaker blue, and Laurentien along with white, black and a cream and both bottoms were painted Homestead House Milk Paint garden seed.

Seeing they were going to be outside in the elements I asked the Homestead House Milk Paint guru Loree what she recommended and she suggested tung oil. It is easy to apply with a chip brush, I also added some mineral spirits to make it a bit runnier and soak in faster. Then wipe off the excess. You can add as many coats as you need after the coats dry.