OLD FASHIONED MILK PAINT... HOW I PAINTED AND SEALED IT

before

It's rare that I paint by hand these days.  Most of my clients are looking for a more "finished", high end, factory like finish, which I can achieve best with a LOT of prep work, high end products and a professional grade HVLP sprayer. 

When my client told me she wanted a "chippy", very antique and distressed look, I knew I was going to have to use different products and techniques that I am normally used to. 

I have used Old Fashioned Milk Paint before but I wasn't crazy about the results.  With that particular piece, I didn't sand it at all.  This resulted in a VERY chippy look, which I didn't like it and long story short….stripped that piece and went a different route.

I decided to sand this buffet.  It wasn't super glossy but I was already going against every bone in my body by not removing doors, painting over the hinges and not priming, so I didn't want to push it and give my self a complete anxiety attach by not sanding it also!  Plus, even though I know this product has a mind of it's own, I wanted to be able to control the chippiness a little bit.

After sanding, vacuuming and giving it a good wipe down.  I mixed my product as instructed on the package and started painting.

I ended up doing 2 coats, 3 in some areas of the color Barn Red.

I wasn't impressed with the flat and dull finish at this point and got a little nervous but knew I would be sealing it, so didn't have a full panic attack.

It did flake and chip off in most of the areas you see.  I used a putty knife for that but probably because I sanded it, I needed to distress it a little bit by hand as well.

Not looking pretty at this point whatsoever!

I used my favorite wipe on topcoat... General Finished Arm-R-Seal in the satin finish.  It is oil based and the only product that I have found you can successfully wipe on by hand. I use a sock on my hand to wipe on.  It dries quickly and is a very hard and durable finish.
I did 2 coats on the top.

Just for the record...I would never do this (seal by hand) with one of my sprayed pieces but it works beautifully on a hand painted, antiqued piece.

My worries about the flat finish quickly disappeared when I saw how nice it looked with the sealer.  I did not want this piece to have a lot of shine, but just a nice luster and blend in the rough looking areas from using the putty knife.  It also deepened the tone of the wood peaking through.

So pretty!