New life for and old writing desk

I have heard from a lot of people once they use milk paint for the first time they love it so much they want to paint everything with milk paint.  Well, that was the case for me too!  

I had been wanting to do a DIY desk for my older daughter's room for a while, but one day after my first milk paint experience, I was at my mom's house and she was getting rid of this old maple writing desk that she had gotten for a wedding gift over 40 years ago.  I wasn't crazy about the way it looked but I figured some milk paint could really transform it.  

This is what it looked like:

My mom and I decided we would do this project together so she could give it to my daughter for her 7th birthday.  (My daughter loves to write books and do her own illustrations, so this is a great gift for her...besides she has lots of toys!)

We chose Miss Mustard Seed's "kitchen scale" for the color (we added the bonding agent as well because I didn't really want the "chippy" look for this project).  My daughter's room is very light pink (Pink Kiss from Valspar - mixed by Sherwin Williams because I like their paint best) and her floor is purple and her room is very colorful, so I wasn't afraid of more color.  And the turquoise-y tone looks good with her bedding and curtains.

This is how it came out:

I sanded the whole thing after 2 coats of paint to bring out the "striations" in the paint color and then waxed it with Minwax basic furniture wax.

We got some new pinkish flower knobs from Hobby Lobby for around $3 each.

I love how it came out, and the best part is that my mom got to pass on a piece of furniture that would have otherwise been donated while I spent time and money trying to DIY a desk!

My daughter didn't waste any time decorating the bulletin board above and filling the desk with her pens and paper.  I think it's safe to say she loves her new "work space."

And yes... I am still looking around and thinking "What else can I paint with milk paint!?!"

Milk paint trial

I have known about milk paint for a long time, but I never thought to try it because I guess I thought it would be tricky to mix and use, but boy was I wrong.  It was so easy!

In my plans for redoing our sitting room I really wanted to paint this tall jelly cabinet that we bought unfinished many years ago.  I had always wanted to paint it, but just never got around to it.

So here is what it looked like before:

I decided on Miss Mustard Seed's Tricycle for the color.  It is a nice bold red and since I have a lot of red accents in my house it seemed the best choice (even though there were so many pretty colors to choose from).

This is what it looked like when I mixed it up - 1:1 paint powder to water.  I didn't have a good wire whisk to use to mix (like they recommend) but I put it in a mason jar and shook it really well, and then let it sit ten minutes.

It seemed really bright when I first mixed it, but went on darker.

It went on pretty smooth although there were a few bubbles (probably from my shaking) and it only took one coat to get the look I wanted.  I wanted the wood grain to show through.  If I had done a second coat it probably would have been more opaque.

It only took about 30 minutes to dry and start looking "chippy."  So, I scraped the chippy spots lightly with a plastic scraper.  

Once I had all the chippy spots off I used Miss Mustard Seed's antiquing wax to darker the whole thing up.  I really feel like this gave the cabinet that aged look that I was going for.  It went from looking new to looking like it really could have been in an old farmhouse.

So here is what the cabinet looked like after:

It was a simple, easy transformation and it only took me about an hour total.  Now, that's my kind of project!

Here's a side by side before and after:

After this project I was looking around thinking "what else can I paint with milk paint?!"  It was really easy and fun.