How to Layer Milk Paint

By Adrienne Boswell @chiccalifornia1
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How To Layer Milk Paint

There are really so many looks that you can get with Milk Paint. You can make something chippy or smooth. You can make your Milk Paint into a wash to give your furniture a beachy look. Or you can layer your paints so that your top of layer of paint is chippy and your base layer peaks through. This was the look that I was going for on this oak pedestal table I picked up at the thrift store.

Oak isn’t my favorite wood and so for this piece I knew I wanted it to look chippy but I didn’t want a lot of the oak to show through. So I started off by painting this piece with a coat of Sweet Pickins Milk Paint in Sweetie Jane mixed with Extra Bond.

Then once your base coat is dry you will seal it. Once again I used my handy shellac to seal the Milk Paint. Seriously, I use this stuff all the time. I sprayed 2 generous coats to really seal in that Sweetie Jane.

Don’t worry about your first layer being perfect. It’s ok for it to be a little heavy in some areas and lighter in others. Once your shellac is dry go ahead and paint your top layer of Milk Paint. I used Sweet Pickins Milk Paint in Flour Sack with no Extra Bond. I wanted this layer to get chippy.

And it did! You can see the areas where things got crackly. Some of the paint chipped revealing some of the bare wood. And it also chipped in some areas and only chipped to the base layer. I then finished revealing some of that base layer by distressing with 220 grit sandpaper. Finally, I finished this piece with clear wax.

Of course, I had to get a good shot of my growing antique bottle collection.

Have you layered Milk Paint? I’d love to see a pic of your projects! Hashtag your projects #layeredmilkpaint