Milk Paint Bedside Tables

My latest makeover is this pair of bedside tables in Porters' Milk Paint.

I had a wonderful day at Porters Paints' Furniture Painting Course last Saturday with the talented Polly Dale. She has an impressive resume and is an extremely talented woman.  She studied at the famous Isabel O’Neil Studio Workshop in New York then perfected her techniques at the exclusive Van der Kelen Institute of Superior Painting in Brussels. Polly was very generous with her knowledge and I appreciate her insights.  When I told my mum that I was doing a painting course she said "well it's a bit late for that!" but I really enjoyed my day painting especially as I hadn't had a solid block of time to paint all school holidays and I did pick up some pointers from Polly, so it was all worthwhile. Porters run courses every month so if you are keen to learn or improve your furniture painting it is a good option. 

Porters Paints are well known in Australia for their beautiful range of waterbased paints and speciality finishes. I decided to use their Milk Paint on the bedsides I bought for the class.  They were plain pine bedsides, very well made and in fabulous condition but that honey gold pine colour that I dislike so much.

From Porter's website: Porter's Milk Paint is a traditional finish, first used in the 18th and 19th centuries on Shaker furniture. Milk Paint has a rustic, chalky appearance that delivers beach-side style or country charm, instantly softening and ageing the look of new furniture and complimenting old. It is made from milk by-products mixed with powdered oxide pigment to produce subtle, mellow colours. Porter's Milk Paint is the only authentic milk paint produced in Australia.

Source

The milk paint was a bit tricky to paint with at first. You have to mix it from powder with water, and stir and stir and stir...rest it,  then strain it through muslin, more stirring and then finally you are ready to paint.  You also can't go over your brush strokes so you have to think carefully how you are going to paint. On these tables I used the beautiful Porter's limeproof undercoat, 2 coats of milk paint, lots and lots of sanding and then Porters Wax. The bedsides have the most beautiful smooth finish I've ever seen. They gleam like glass. I have lightly distressed them for a beautiful country shabby chic look.

 The drawers are dovetailed and on runners.

Despite how fabulous these look next to our bed, these are for sale as a pair. 

If you are interested please leave a comment or email me.

cheers 

Fiona