Milk Paint And An Old Door

Good Sunday Morning.  I am starting some change ups in my Living Room and I decided to try some Milk Paint on an old door I had in there.  

I love the soft look in my living room with the creams and whites but I felt the door and armoire were a little boring.
 So this is when I thought I would try the milk paint to see if I could get some chippiness.  So I started with the door.

This is the old vintage door.  I painted it with Milk Paint and nothing happened.  Then I tried a second coat and again nothing happened.  I followed the directions, lightly sanded it first, did not use any bonding agent and then mixed up the paint and applied it.  I guess that is how it goes with Milk Paint it will chip where it wants or in my case where it does not want too LOL!  So.......

So I just took a mouse sander to the door and got this chippy look.

Then I started to think about all of this and thought hey I am going to give this milk paint another shot.  So I mixed up another batch this time using a little less water and letting the paint sit for awhile before applying it.

Here is the door repainted with a new batch of Milk Paint in the color Ironstone.

After it was dry I could see that it was starting to pull away and bubble in some spots.  Much more than the first try.   I took a light sand paper to the door and achieved this look from the milk paint.  Almost the same as when I just took the mouse sander to the first round where the milk paint did nothing.

So I guess the moral of this story is I can get the same distressed look of milk paint with a mouse sander.
Not sure why I had such a hard time getting the first attempt of milk paint to chip but the second attempt seemed to work better and maybe with the door being more heavily sanded the paint worked better with the second go around.

Anyway it was fun to try something new and have a little fun with the milk paint.  Not sure I am a big fan but to be fair to Milk Paint this is one of the first times I tried milk paint. So maybe if I gave it another try I would get better results.  I just feel that I achieved the same chippy distressed look of milk paint with just using a mouse sander and could achieve this with no investment in the milk paint.

So if you are open minded and like mystery and no control over the results of milk paint this is the paint for you.  I guess I just like to see and control the chippiness so the old fashion sanding of a piece is a better fit for me.

Now I need to think about the Armoire.  Not sure I want that same look on the armoire.  So I am thinking about some other options for this big piece of furniture.  Stay tuned.

Also the talented Lisa from LHarmonDesigns  that made my sectional slipcover some time back is making me a new one in a natural color so I am excited to have that coming soon.  I think it will bring some warmth into the cottage living room.
If you have not seen Lisa's gorgeous slipcovers on Etsy you must visit her.  She does excellent work and is quick and makes these beautiful slipcovers from templates made from your own pictures.  It is so great to have these come and fit perfectly and she never had to have your furniture.
I will have a post on her beautiful work as soon as I get my new slipcover.

Enjoy the rest of the week end and have a great start to the new week ahead.
Kris
:)