chippy paint

Ack! I was having a few computer/internet issues yesterday and quickly gave up on writing a post before I tore all of my hair out. But for today, my laptop is back up and running – I pray to the computer gods that it lasts just a little while longer!

So, over the weekend my husband and I drove out to the quaint town of Orange, about 30 minutes outside of Charlottesville, to pick up a farm table that I had found on Craigslist. And let me tell you my friends, it was a steal! Unfortunately, I don’t have photos as it is currently in pieces in the back of my husband’s car, but I can’t wait to put a paintbrush to it.

Currently, the table looks a little something like this:

I’m not quite sure on what look to go for, however, and would love some input! Here are a few options:

Natural wood top and distressed grey base.

Shabby chic white.

Stained top, white base.

Or stained top, and base with a nice pop o’ color!

I’d love to take a vote and hear your thoughts!

While in Orange, my husband and I also stopped by an architectural salvage shop called Salvage Wrights and let me tell you, if you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend stopping by! It was like stepping foot into a little piece of heaven. Weathered wood, chippy paint, shabby shutters, old barn doors, oh my! And the prices are really quite reasonable.

In the midst of looking for a barn door to replace our bathroom door with, I came across some fabulously chippy wood that had come from a patio ceiling of a 1910 farmhouse (and here is an interesting fact: did you know that patio ceilings are often painted sky blue to prevent wasps from nesting? Apparently, the wasps actually believe it to be the sky and will nest elsewhere. I may have to give this a try!). Each panel was 7’ long and there were dozens of them. And at $.50 per linear foot, I couldn’t say no! So I piled 10 boards on top of the farm table and went home a very happy wife.

The very next day, in our excitement, my husband and I threw together a frame fashioned from two of the chippy panels. Here’s a little sneak peak:

This guy will soon become a perfectly chippy chalkboard (and will be for sale in my Greenwood retail space) – tutorial coming Thursday!

I’ve been waiting with bated breath for Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint to arrive (via Red Posie) and the big moment finally arrived yesterday afternoon. It was a bit like Christmas morning opening the box and a shiver of excitement came over me as I peered down at my powdered paint. I couldn’t wait to use it!

Unfortunately, it was already late in the day and since I was only 85% recovered from the bug I had caught earlier in the week, I decided to give it one more day….but come this morning, I popped out of bed and went straight to work (well, after a cup o’ joe or two, of course).

Now, I’ve been saving a particular piece for this paint – a piece small enough to finish quickly and cheap enough that if I screwed it up, I wouldn’t be heartbroken.

A cute little student desk!

I’m embarrassed to say, but this piece has actually been sitting in my kitchen – sort of as a kitchen island – for almost a year while I’ve been (very patiently) waiting to repaint and lightly renovate the walls and pantry. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures! Needless to say, when I got wind of the MMS line of paint, this was the first piece that came to mind.

So, with the powdered form of milk paint in hand, I happily began the transformation.

Before I get into the details of the project, however, I must give you a pre-painting tip that is particularly useful if you’ve never used milk paint before: I would highly, HIGHLY recommend watching the MMS milk paint tutorials! In my excitement to use the milk paint, I decided to forgo this and immediately regretted this decision when mixing the paint. Frankly, I had no idea what it was supposed to look like, what consistency it was supposed to be, etc. It is very different than your typical latex, acrylic, or chalk paint!

With this said, I added just a little more water that I should have and ended up with what I like to call “skim” milk paint rather than what should have been “whole” milk paint. Hence, when applying the paint, it was a bit runny.

I went with it, nevertheless, and after sanding the top of the desk to its original grain (which took a heck of a lot of sanding!), I painted the base with the first coat of my runny milk paint in Ironstone…

You can’t quite tell from the above picture, but when the milk paint begins to dry, you can see areas in which the paint doesn’t fully adhere and actually begins to chip. If this is an affect you’d rather avoid then make sure you mix the bonding agent in with the paint mixture! I happen to love the chippy affect, so I left the mixture as is.

I allowed the paint to dry for approximately 30 minutes then took a putty knife to very lightly remove the chipping pieces. I then added a second coat of milk paint and repeated the process. Once I achieve my desired “chippy” look, I added one coat of MMS clear wax to seal the paint and give the piece a nice, natural sheen. Finally, I brushed on a coat of Danish Oil in medium walnut…

One coat of Danish Oil down, which you can see is still a little wet.

…allowed it to dry for 30 minutes before applying a second coat, and voila! After allowing the second coat to dry for another 15 minutes and wiping the whole piece down with a cloth, it looked like this:

Did I mention that we’ll be repainting soon?! As you can see, it’s much needed!

I actually love how it turned out (I’m still working on my photography so the piece looks a bit better in person…) and particularly love the chippiness of it, but it’s definitely important to be aware of how milk paint works before applying it! What do you think?

LINKED TO: