Thursday, April 26, 2012

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




13 comments:

  1. They look great Fiona, love the ginger jars.
    Nice to see some distressing there LOL.
    Sandy xx

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    1. Ha ha Sandy -these are YOUR ginger jars! i unwrapped them for the photo. I was going to mention it in the post but forgot to. knew you'd like them. glad.
      re the distressing you should have seen Polly trying to get me to distress , I would do a tiny bit and say "enough?" and she'd say "more, double more", hilarious.
      i'm very pleased how these have turned out.
      have a good day
      cheers Fiona

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  2. They look great Fiona...I have had a sack of white milk paint for months now but have only played with it on some trays so far. It is a pain to mix up, but I know the smooth finish you mean. Perhaps I will have to organise a trip to Sydney to go and do their course, I'd love to try some of their acrylics, the colours look stunning!

    xx Karen

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    1. hi Karen. thanks. if you do come to sydney for the course come and stay with me. would be fun. Porters acrylics are divine also. i have quite a few tins.
      cheers Fiona

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    2. aww thanks Fiona, what a sweet offer! What is your favourite colour in the Porters acrylics?

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  3. Did you have to sand these before you primed? I've heard that chalk paint there's no sanding required. I've been meaning to try milk paint because it's environmentally friendly - is it cost effective?

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    1. hi Lilian, yes I very lightly sanded before priming. I sand everything ever so slightly. because I sell my furniture I never skip steps as I would hate for one of my clients to have a problem down the track with their piece. Milk Paint is very expensive in Australia. A bag of it is $47.50 and that would cover 4 bedside tables in 2 coats. I used half a bag on these. Does that help?
      cheers Fiona

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  4. Hi ! Could you please tell me what resist you used to get this chippy look with the chalk paint? I thought you would have used milk paint for that chipped look. I've been pulling my hair out. When I use the vaseline under the chalk paint, the look is more smeary and/or scratchy rather than chippy like yours! Would be much appreciated if you could let me know! Thanks! Mary

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  5. Hello! Have these been sold? Very interested!
    Thanks!

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Thanks for taking the time to comment! Sorry if you have trouble commenting, you can always email me at lilyfieldlife@bigpond.com