When my grandmother passed away last fall she left me 2 night stands. I think the shape is really neat and I love that they have removable glass tops for easy cleaning. The dark wood didn't really match any of my other furniture so I have been planning to re-paint them for some time. I saw this great paint called Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint and thought I'd give it a try. It's non-toxic, comes in powder form and you mix it with water. It creates a chippy look when painted with out a bonding agent, or smooth with the bonding solvent. I opted for chippy. I love me some chipped up paint. I got the furniture wax to go over and seal it. I must say I do really love the color. It's called Grain Sack.
First: I took some sand paper and lightly gave them a quick "rough up" to get some of the varnish off and to really give the paint something to grab on to.
Original wood. |
Second: I took a paper towel, dampened with warm water and wiped them off. Yuck. Varnish, wood. Dirt.
Next I mixed up the paint: The recommended ratio is 1:1.5 Paint to water. The exception is the lighter colors where you should use 1:1.25. I mixed up a cup of powder and 1.25 cups warm water. Stir 3-5 minutes.
I did the first coat on Saturday night around 8pm just as the sun was going down.
Looked kind of grey with the dark wood peeking through. |
The next day (after Easter brunch of course) I did the second coat.
Supa-fab. |
Then after the paint dried (it only takes about 30 minutes) it started to get "chippy". I ran my hand along it and flakes came off. Then I use the furniture wax and gave it 2 thin coats.
The end result:
My only issue is that you clearly cannot control how much/where the paint chips. (Hence the big ol' chip on the front)