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Hello friends! Today I wanted to take you on a trip into my little corner of the world! My living room! I have been slowly working on updating this room, and there are many things left to do (like shiplap this entire room), but I've taken a little bite out of my list of projects.
My husband and I bought this book shelf from an antique store earlier this year. The intention was to use it in our brick and mortar store. As you can see, that didn't happen. Instead we visualized it as the perfect piece to accent our living room.
I wanted to go with a more Modern Farmhouse look and I envisioned this piece white. I also knew that I wanted to use our Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint on this piece. It gives a beautiful, authentic look to a piece.
Here is what I started with:
The two milk paint colours that I chose are Farmhouse White and Marzipan. I really wanted a subtle, neutral look. The outside of the unit was painted in Farmhouse White and for the inside I used Marzipan.
Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint comes in a powder form, so you mix up one part powder to one part water. I used about 2 cups total for the outside of this unit. Because I was using white, I needed three coats. The first coat always looks bad - it is typically called the ugly coat. Keep going! It gets so much better!
Here is what the first coat looks like:
See what I mean? Like I said, keep going....wait for the paint to dry in between coats, and continue with your second coat. Stir the paint up every few minutes otherwise the clay and pigments will start to settle to the bottom.
The inside of this unit was a bit trickier. The paint didn't want to stick very well to the blue paint that was already inside. I believe it was an oil-based paint. So I need four coats of the marzipan for the inside. Approximately two bags of the milk paint.
After giving the whole unit a light sand with fine grit sandpaper, I protected the outside of the unit using hemp oil. Hemp oil is a food grade product and so easy to apply. Just put some hemp oil in a paper cup or container, and use a lint free cloth or brush to apply it all over your piece. Wipe off any excess with a clean rag.
I did not add any hemp oil to the inside because I wanted to put my books in it right away. Hemp oil needs a cure time of about 30 days and although I probably could have put my books back in after a couple weeks, I didn't want to wait that long. I'm also okay without the protection inside as this is a distressed piece.
I have yet to add new pulls to the bottom of the unit, but here she is!
A close up of the distressing.
This picture shows the chippy goodness that I love so much with milk paint. You can also see the difference in colour better. The left is Marzipan - right is Farmhouse White.
I love how it brightens up the space and gives it more of a soft, neutral feel. What do you think??
Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint is so easy to use and made of only five simple ingredients. If you haven't tried it yet, take the leap! You will be surprised at the difference a bag of paint can make!
