Happy Monday everyone! So have you recovered from the 4th of July holiday week? It was a 9 day weekend for some or just a day off for others. I worked all last week except for on the 4th when I painted. I was so excited when this little package arrived just before the holiday!  Yep, that’s a little starter set of Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint. I’ve been holding my breath for this and couldn’t wait to jump in.

I’ve never used milk paint before.  It really is pretty different than chalk paint (which you know I love) although you can achieve the same level of creativity.  In other words, you don’t get stuck with all of the prep work that you need to do with latex paint.  You can jump right into painting and the fun stuff like you can with chalk paint however the results vary.  Milk paint gives a really authentic worn, chippy look that you’d have to manually distress to get with other paints.

Let me show you!

I started with this plain jane set of wooden drawers for my first milk paint run.

I mixed up the white called ‘Ironstone’.  Milk paint comes in a powder form so I made it a little watery to make for almost a wash effect.  In fact, Miss Mustard Seed just posted some videos on how to mix the paint here.

I painted on 2 coats of Ironstone but in between the coats I applied a layer of crackle. Crackle also comes in a powder form that you mix with water. The amount of water you add directly correlates with how fine the crackling will be. I made my crackle solution quite watery.  See?

Then I nearly did a cartwheel and snapped a pic at the first signs of crackling!  Who said watched paint never crackles?  I watched this like a hawk and right before my eye…boom!

Ok let me regain my composure here.  Ahem, so here is the final result. See all of the fine chips and authentic signs of wear in the paint?

You might be surprised but this piece is super smooth to the touch regardless of all the texture.  I used Miss Miustard Seed’s wax over the paint.  It was so smooth.  Just like lotion for wood and doesn’t stick like some furniture wax.  I love it!  In addition, the paint really had some depth in the color.  There seem to be gray undertones in the Ironstone.

And I painted on a magenta pink daffodil by mixing Tricycle with a little Ironstone.  I know there are no pink daffodils out there but there also aren’t gray stems.

The stem was painted with Shutter Gray.  I used the gray as more of a watercolor by making a watery mix with the powder.  For the flower though I mixed the Tricycle/Ironstone solution with less water which made for a thick, texture-rich flower.

The chest and Shoobie Beach sign are both up for sale in my space at West End Garage in Cape May.  Go see how smooth it is!  By the way, who knows what a Shoobie is?  Anyone?  Hint:  It is definitely a “vintage” south Jersey shore term…

If you’re still with me, I assume you are interested in milk paint.  So hopefully you will be happy to hear that Circa Dee will be stocking Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint for the Philly area just as soon as it becomes available later this summer!  It will be for sale in our brick & mortar shop and online.  We’ll have a little party to celebrate too.  Stay tuned!  Get in touch with me if you want to pre-order.

Linking to Thrifty Decor Chick, Home Stories A to Z, Primitive & Proper, Miss Mustard Seed, Funky Junk Interiors