Now, you know what milk paint is  you’ve mixed it for your project, and now it’s time to get your piece ready to paint.  This is the part that many people are confused about and where many projects go off the rails.  In this day and age where no sanding, priming or prep is the trend, there is an assumption that you don’t ever have to prep anything before painting it.

So, can you paint a piece without prepping it?  Yes.  You definitely can.   However, there are still cases where prep is needed.

And that’s what we’re going to cover today.

So, which ones need to be prepped and how?

raw wood

Milk paint is the absolute best paint I know of for raw wood.  It will soak in like a stain (as opposed to sitting on top, like modern paints) and will stay there for decades.  Even centuries.  Seriously.  If you have raw wood cabinetry, floors, paneling, etc, milk paint is a fantastic option.  You do not need to prime, that would defeat the purpose, but you do want to sand the wood to make it smooth prior to painting.

porous/flat finish 

A porous finish is any surface that is flat or matte.  This could be a flat latex or acrylic paint, a chalk-type paint, gesso, primer or an older piece where the finish has dulled or mostly worn off.  These are the pieces that require the least amount of prep and you can get away with no prep, in most cases.  I would say that 95% of the time with these pieces, I just dip the brush in and go for it.  Milk paint tends to like these surfaces and, since they’ve been previously finished, you don’t have to sand them smooth as you would with raw wood.

glossy/slick finish

When painting a piece that has a slick, glossy coat of paint or polyurethane (like most “factory finishes”), prep work is very important.  Paint needs something to grip.  By sanding the surface, you can create “tooth” for the paint to grab onto.  This is especially important for milk paint.  We’ll talk about this more when we get to the Bonding Agent, but if milk paint doesn’t properly adhere to a surface (it’s being resisted or repelled by the existing finish), it will chip and flake away.  Which is what had happened to my desk.

The result can look really cool and authentically old, but it can also fall off in sheets and look terrible.

One of the best ways to prevent the paint from chipping (or to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand) is to sand the surface first.  For glossy pieces, I rub a sand block over the entire surface.  It’s not about stripping off the finish, but scratching it up.  I know sanding sounds like a bummer, but this should only take five minutes or so for a dresser.  It’s a small investment of time that will make a big difference in the end result.

We’ll talk more about the “chippy look” and the Bonding Agent in a future post in this series.

oily finish

I love this piece!!

These are pretty rare, but they are definitely the trickiest.  I bought this rocking horse from Restoration Hardware and painted it with milk paint and the paint would just not stick!  I sanded, I used the Bonding Agent.  I coaxed it and pleaded with it.  I finally did achieve a very cool look, but not one that would work for a functional piece of furniture.  If you’re painting a really oily wood, like teak, or a piece that has an oiled or polished finish, there might be some issues.  This can also be a problem with kitchen cabinets that have an oily build-up from cooking.

I was finally able to get the paint to (mostly) stick to the horse by heavily sanding, so that’s what I would suggest for similar pieces.  If you’re dealing with pieces that have been heavily polished or have oil sitting on top, like the kitchen cabinets, or a piece that’s been in a workshop/garage and has oily spills on the top, I would take the extra step and clean them with a degreaser. Dirtex is great!  I’ve pretty much use it to clean any piece before I start.

There are always exceptions to these rules…pieces I think will chip and they won’t, etc., but these are pretty general guidelines that will be true in most cases.

 

 

And we’ll talk more about that first coat and the “ugly stage” next time…

Also most forgot: remove handles and pulls before you paint!

Information adapted from Miss Mustard Seeds website.

Resources:

Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint-look book one

Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint-look book two

Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint HERE or HERE

In part one of this series, we talked about what milk paint is.   Now, we’re going to get into mixing, which I think is the most intimidating part for most people.

First of all, we’re not use to mixing paint, right?  It usually comes in a bottle or can and it’s already a liquid.  Just dip in your brush and go.  I must admit that the convenience of that is nice.

The reason milk paint doesn’t come that way, is that it is perishable once it’s mixed, so it’s sold in powdered form.

I think some people are nervous about mixing the paint because it is an unknown.  And most of us are a little apprehensive when we stray from what we’re used to.   There’s also an assumption that this needs to be exact or everything will be ruined.

So, let me first put you at ease.

If you can stir, you can mix milk paint.  It’s very forgiving and very hard to mess up.

Before we get into the step-by-step of mixing, let me give you an analogy that I often use in workshops.

Think of milk paint like peanut butter.

Remember the peanut butter most of us grew up with?  The processed, artificial-ingredient-laden peanut butter that would have a perfectly smooth and level top no matter how much the jar was shaken?  The peanut butter that would make stiff peaks on a knife and perfect waves on a piece of bread?  That is like modern paints that have all kinds of things added to it in order to make them smooth and creamy, so they fall off a paint stirrer in a perfect ribbon.

You then decide to kick all artificial ingredients from your diet and you switch to all-natural peanut butter.  You open the jar and frown.  It looks clumpy.  There is an oil slick on top and it needs to be stirred and worked to make it creamier. That is like milk paint.  It doesn’t have all of those additives that modern paints have, so it looks different.

Neither paint is wrong or bad, they are just different.  If you expect them to be different, you’re less likely to freak out when milk paint is, well, different.

There are many different ways to mix milk paint, depending on your preferences, but I’m going to share how I mix 90% of the time.

• Pour desired amount of milk paint into cup, jar or container.  If you’re painting a small piece of furniture or an accessory, I would suggest 1/4 cup.  If you’re painting a dresser, about 1 cup.
• Add equal part water.  If you put 1/4 cup powder in your cup, add 1/4 cup water.
• Stir with a wooden stir stick, spoon, fork or whisk.  (I buy my wooden stirrers from the wood craft section at Hobby Lobby.  They are called “wood paddles.”  HERE are similar ones I found on Amazon.)
• If you’re mixing a large batch or a challenging color (see below), then use a blender (a milk frother), or an immersion blender.

• Add more water, if necessary.  For some colors, equal parts is enough and for others, it will be too thick.  The consistency should be thinner than most paints you’re used to.  It will feel watery more than creamy and it will come off your stir stick in a string instead of a ribbon.
• Allow the paint to sit for about 15 minutes.  This gives clumps of powder a chance to absorb the water.
• Stir again.  It should feel a little creamier.  There might be a few lumps or some grit clinging to the sides of the cup.  This is totally normal, so don’t stress about a few small lumps.
• Brush the paint onto the surface you wish to paint.  This is the best way to tell if your mix is right.  If your brush is dragging or there are a lot of lumps, the mix is too thick and needs more water and more stirring.  If the paint is runny or dripping, it’s too thin and you need to add a bit more powder and stir again.

Here are a few more tips…

 

• The thickness of the paint really is a preference thing.  If I’m painting raw wood, I’ll mix it thinner, because it will soak into the grain of the wood.  If I’m painting something with an existing finish or paint, I’ll mix it a little thicker, since it will be sitting on top of the surface.  It should always flow nicely off the brush, though.
• Different colors mix differently.  I have found that the lighter colors usually need less water.  Tricycle (red) is the most challenging color to mix, since the red pigments resist the water.  This is a perfect color to use an electric mixer on or to shake in a lidded jar.  It will come together, if you mix it by hand, but if that’s the first color you ever mix, just know that most colors mix easier!

• The pigments in some of the colors separate, especially the ones with yellow and blue pigment, like Boxwood.  This can be problematic if you’re painting a larger piece and don’t stir a little as you go.  The paint will look more yellow or more blue towards the end, resulting in a splotchy, uneven look.  This won’t happen if you give the paint a little stir, even just with your brush, every ten minutes or so.

• The kind of water you use can make a difference.  I use ordinary tap water, but if you have well water or really hard water, you may want to consider using bottled for mixing your milk paint.
• You may find that the paint thickens as you use it.  That is because the brush is drawing more water out of your cup or container, so you may need to add a little more water and give it another stir.
• Once mixed, the paint can be stored for about a week.  Just cover it with plastic wrap or a lid and keep it at room temperature.  When you’re ready to use it again, mix it and add some more water to bring it to the right consistency.
• You can mix two or more colors to make custom colors!  I like to mix up small batches, writing down the “recipe” until I find the color I want.

Information in this post adapted from Miss Mustard Seed website. 

Resources:

Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint-look book one

Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint-look book two

Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint HERE or HERE