Updating With Milk Paint

by Lindsay Fekitoa

Easy

Take what were blah cafe shelves and update them into something special with some milk paint. It's easy to mix and paint on in just two coats. By the end of a few hours you'll have something that will look like it's been aging for over 100 years.

updating with milk paint, painting, shelving ideas

By adding a lighter color over a darker color gives you the ability to sand off as much or as little as you'd like with giving you the aging look you'd like to achieve. Then by adding more eclectic and vintage accessories it takes this look over the edge. If you really want a drastic and antique look, use the Extra Bond and paint over the stained wood and sand away. It'll look fantastic.

For those of you who don't know, milk paint comes in powder form. You'll want to mix equal part of powder to luke warm water. I use a mason jar to mix my paint. Make sure to get all the powder from the bottom of the jar to mix in, use a skewer to do so. I let mine sit for about 15 minutes until all the bubbles were settled. I didn't do that on my first coat and had coverage issues. While it's drying you'll begin seeing the paint lifting in certain areas, these will be the areas that you want to focus on sanding.

Here below is the exact same spot after two coats and I've lightly sanded it. Check out my blog to see the finished product and how I completed the whole milk paint look!