My tips on using milk paint and how to get a non chippy look

Earlier this week I posted about how I used milk paint to completely transform a dated china hutch in my living room.  I used Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint to do the job.  This was my first time using milk paint and I didn't know what to expect when I first started it.  Of course I did as much research as I could but when you actually do it, you learn a lot.  In this post I'm going talk about some of the things I learned when I painted my china cabinet, and what you should and shouldn't do to achieve that non chippy look with milk paint.

When I was researching milk paint all I saw was pictures of furniture that looked like below.

This chippy and shabby chic look is beautiful, but I'm not into the country cottage look.  I want something that is more sleek, contemporary, and elegant looking.  The great news is that, yes, you can use milk paint to get a non chippy look, but you need to ask yourself a couple of questions before you decide to go this route.  Yes, I loved how my china hutch turned out, it looks like a million bucks, and the finish on the hutch is so beautiful looking.  BUT, there's some cons to using milk paint that I learned when painting my hutch.  Let's dive in.

1. Your Budget.
Milk paint is a specialty paint, you won't find it at your local hardware store.  You'll have to purchase it online or at a specialty paint store.  Milk Paint is non toxic, odor free, and is 100% natural.  Because of all of these great qualities milk paint costs more than regular latex paint.  So consider if you can afford to spend extra.

To do a non-chippy look you'll need bonding agent, paint, and if you want the paint to stand up and last for a long time I recommend you getting the hemp oil and furniture wax.  Miss Mustard Seed generously gave me most of the products I used on my china hutch, I did have to buy some extra paint and hemp oil.  But if I was to buy all of the products I used on my hutch, this is the amount I would have to fork out:

3 bags of Typewriter Milk Paint- $66

2 bags of Trophy Milk Paint - $44

1 bottle of bonding agent - $17 

1 500ml bottle of hemp oil -$23

1 jar of furniture wax- $26 

Total= $176

3. Use a blender to mix your milk paint.

I used a blender and hand mixed it and I got a lot better results when it came to consistency when I mixed the paint with a blender.  Make sure to pour water in first before you add the powder.  At first it came out kind of frothy, which made it really easy to paint with and there was a lot less drips.

One tip is to immediately clean your blender after mixing the milk paint.  I didn't and the milk paint hardened to inside my jar and it took my 15 minutes to scrub that thing clean.  You want to take apart the jar and unscrew the bottom and make sure to clean all of the crevices and cracks to make sure you clean out all of the paint because if you use that blender for making smoothies, you're not going to want chips of milk paint in your food.

4. Paint in a not too cold or hot climate.

I started to paint my hutch in January and it's frigid in Utah during that time of year.  I was thinking about painting the hutch in our garage so I wouldn't have my living room in a disarray and worry about Amelia touching it. Despite that I'm so glad I decided not to do this because I've have heard from people who have used milk paint that it doesn't stick as well when it's too cold or too hot.  I personally had this happen to me when we painted our cabinets with lacquer in our kitchen.  It was too cold in our garage when we painted the cabinet doors, and therefore the paint didn't stick to the wood and a month after finishing them, the paint started to chip.  My rule of thumb, paint in a climate that is around 60-75 degrees.

5. Do at least three coats of paint. 

You'll notice after you apply the first two coats of paint, you'll see variation in color and in coverage.  So that's why I recommend applying three coats of paint to get an even and complete coverage.  

6. Use a brush to apply hemp oil and furniture wax

On Miss Mustard Seed's website it suggests to use a brush or lint free cloth to apply hemp oil and furniture wax.  I tried this for about 10 minutes and gave up.  This would take me three hours to apply just the oil on my large hutch.  I ditched the cloth and got out the brush and got it done in 20 minutes.   Use a brush.  You'll be able to do the job a lot quicker.

  

7. If you use a cloth to wipe excess oil and wax, make sure to use a lint free one or one that won't show lint on dark paint colors.

I couldn't find a lint free cloth in my house and I was too lazy to go to the store to purchase one.  I used an old wash cloth.  Bad mistake.  It was a light pink color, and as I was wiping away the excess hemp oil, you could see lint all over the paint.  CRAP!  I found if you do use a regular cloth, don't use a 100% cotton one and use one that isn't the opposite color of your paint. So don't use a light colored cloth on dark paint, and vice versa.  

8. Add bonding agent on every coat of paint to avoid chipping.

On Miss Mustard Seed's website it recommends you to only apply bonding agent in the first coat of paint. I did this and then applied two more coats of milk paint on top of that.  When I was done I noticed there were a couple of places on the hutch, especially around the edges where the paint wasn't sticking to the wood and it was chipping.

I lightly sanded the areas, added bonding agent to the first coat of paint, and then applied two more coats of paint without the bonding agent and when I was done with that those spots were still chipping!  I thought to myself, "are you kidding me?"

I was getting really frustrated so I emailed Marian, the creator of Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint and ask for her advice on how to get these spots to stop chipping.  She told me that if that happens to apply bonding agent in each of your coats of paint.  I sanded those areas down again and applied the milk paint with bonding agent and it worked better, but I still have some sports that won't stick to the wood.  I applied the hemp oil and furniture wax on top of this and this will help prevent it from chipping more.  At this point I don't care anymore and have embraced some of those chipping parts.

Rule of thumb, if the thought of having some parts on your furniture chippy doesn't sit well with you, you might not want to consider milk paint because from my experience there's still a chance it can chip even if you followed all of the instructions.

9. Using milk paint takes time, but the payoff is worth it. 

Using milk paint is like a lost art.  It comes in a powder form so you have to mix it up before you can use it. This doesn't make it as convenient, but I did like how I could make the amount I needed for the amount of time I had to paint.  If I had an excess, I covered it up and put it in the fridge.  I learned that you can use milk paint in a sprayer, but you have to make sure it's completely mixed and strained.  I'm going to try this route next time I use milk paint, just to hurry up the process.  Because I did a two tone, I was doing it in my living room, had to tape off the different parts, have a very busy 20 month old, and the only time I could do it was during nap time and late at night, it took me a long time to finish this project.  BUT, I love how the milk paint shows the grain of the wood, and the wax brings out the texture of the grain.  It's absolutely beautiful.  Nothing worth in life is easy, and I would say this is the same for milk paint. It's going to take you longer to do, three coats of paint, two coats of hemp oil, and one coat of wax, that's six coats.  But the non chippy look you achieve is worth all of that.  Promise.

I hope these tips will help you to create that non chippy look with your milk paint. Make sure to go to Miss Mustard's Seed FAQ page where she answers a lot of questions on how to use milk paint.

This is not a sponsored post. This is 100% my opinions and thoughts.