Paint made with milk
I have a confession to make…I just used paint made with milk. Crazy? Not so much.
I have another confession to make – I may like change just a tad bit too much and I may have an inner Joanna Gaines (HGTV Fixer Upper!) that’s just dying to show herself.
There, I said it.
While living in our last house, I would literally rearrange our living room furniture on an almost monthly basis and reorganize, well, everything far too often. Thankfully for the mister’s sake, our new house’s layout prevents me from doing anything all too crazy. Usually I find refuge in small craft projects here or there but every once in a while I’ll still challenge myself with something a bit bigger. The other day, for example, I randomly decided to paint our kitchen cabinets. Of course that particular project currently sits half-finished but that’s another story. Today, I wanted to take some time to share with you one of those bigger projects that I’m quite proud of.
Over the years, I’ve familiarized myself with a number of various products in the word of crafting – canvases, glues, brushes, wood types, tools, and of course paints. More recently however, I was pleasantly surprised and quite excited to be introduced to a new type of paint. So, now, please allow me to similarly introduce you to Real Milk Paint.
Lately, there have been many trends surrounding the restoration of furniture, the bringing back of original finishes, and the importance of using “real” products. Coincidentally enough, that is exactly where Real Milk Paint found its start. After embarking on a project to restore an heirloom piece of furniture and researching the idea of making milk paint from scratch, it was quickly realized that consumers wanted the very same thing. However, there was one catch; consumers did not want to make it from scratch on their own. So after spending some time experimenting with dry powdered milk products, the perfect nontoxic paint formula was found and Real Milk Paint came to life.
Just picture it…
A creamy white base for the lower portion of the desk, a gorgeous dark glaze to finish that off, all topped with a dark stain allowing the grain of the wood to show through. That was my goal. And Real Milk Paint was going to make it happen.
I decided on these four particular products:
- Real Milk Paint Finishing Cream in Dead Flat
- Real Milk Paint Pearl Paint
- Real Milk Paint Mocha Finishing Glaze
- Real Milk Paint Dark Tung Oil
Finishing Creams (or Burnishing Pastes) by the Real Milk Paint company are easy to apply thick or thin. You can also add more of any of the burnishing finishes years down the road if the finish wears away with use.
In addition to being a finisher later in the project, I was excited to learn that this product would allow me to skip the deep sanding step for the majority of the desk. Once we had the surface cleaned, the application of this particular product was quite easy. The texture of it reminded me of something along the lines of hair conditioner and it was brushed onto the desk just as easily. See for yourself…
Real Milk Paint is a powdered paint that’s versatile and easy to use. It is the ideal choice for an environmentally friendly, non-toxic paint that gives you convenience and a broad color selection.
This paint will give you a matte, velvet, chalky paint surface so we chose to refinish our piece in the brand’s Pearl color option. Differing from store-bought paint, we actually had to get the Real Milk Paint mixture together prior to painting.
Once finished, we were ready to start painting!
The texture of Real Milk Paint Pearl Paint was one that I wasn’t all too familiar with and slightly reminded me of a face scrub. It was creamy to the eye but, upon closer look, you could notice the chalkiness of it. It went on thick and smoothed out from there.
Made with natural hog bristle that have a split hair tip to hold paint well, these brushes hold the paint to provide great coverage with every stroke.
Mocha Finishing Glaze has no odor and is a Non-VOC product. Finishing Glaze is a water base top coat that has a minimal non-existent matte appearance. When applied over our non-toxic paint or used to protect wood finishes, Finishing Glazes are versatile and strong. These glazes will slightly wet the pigment in the paint to make it a shade darker.
It did take a bit of getting used to, primarily because this was my first time using a glaze, but eventually I got the hang of it. With the glazing, you simply need to brush the Mocha Finishing Glaze over the surface and follow up by wiping off the excess with a clean soft cloth. Some areas with the glaze did dry a bit quicker and thus darker than other areas but we were able to even it out once we familiarized ourselves with the process. Real Milk Paint includes tutorial videos on their site and, within the one focusing on the glazing process, they shared a tip to use water in order to remove excess glaze and even out the finish’s final results.
Finally, after we had the lower portion of the desk complete and topped off with the Finishing Cream in Dead Flat, it was time to tackle the top surface. That brings us to the Real Milk Paint Dark Tung Oil.
The same as our Pure Tung Oil except that we have added a non-toxic naturally occurring resinous hydrocarbon for color. The resin is non-carcinogenic and does not contain any PCB’s. Dark Raw Tung Oil by the Real Milk Paint company is water and alkali resistant. It resists marring, penetrates well, is elastic and unlikely to check. Dark Raw Tung Oil builds quickly, consolidates the wood surface, and builds a dark matte wood finish.
As much as I love the look that the Real Milk Paint Pearl Paint provided, I didn’t want to overpower the piece or the room with an overabundance of white. At the same time, I wanted to be able to show the character of the desk itself not only by highlighting the trim work with the Mocha Finishing Glaze but by accentuating the majestic grain within the wood. The Dark Tung Oil allowed me to do just that.
I absolutely love it!
Now for that wall color…
Buy:
You can purchase the Real Milk Paint products featured here along with numerous other painting and finishing products direct from their website at www.RealMilkPaint.com, or from Amazon.com {below}. The items used for this restoration project range in price from $18.99 to $31.99.
Real Milk Paint Dead Flat Finishing Cream -16 oz.42-Milk Paint Blue Spruce24-Milk Paint Barn RedTri-Sodium Phosphate-8 oz.Real Milk Paint Low Finishing Cream 32 oz.Good Ol’ Brown Wax-16ozReal Milk Paint Powdered Milk Paint Remover – Half GallonOutdoor AdditiveReal Milk Paint Soapstone Sealer and Wood Wax – 16 oz.
Connect:
Be sure to keep up with the Real Milk Paint company on their social media pages so that you can stay up to date on all of the latest news, new product releases, sale pricing, tips, tutorials, and so much more!
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24 Responses
I love the new look of the desk! Looks fantastic!
This looks awesome! What a cool brand 🙂
That turned out so pretty.I love what a change this paint makes!
looks interesting id like to give that a try
Excellent project, I would like to check out Real Milk Paint!
The distressed look is so in, I love it, looks so chic. Reminds me of something on Fixer Upper.
That turned out really nice. I haven’t tried milk paint because after years of cleaning up after children I always wanted a gloss or semi gloss but they are grown now and this looks so nice you have inspired me to try milk paint!
Sounds like a great product. I would love to try this
You did a great job on re-doing the desk. I will have to check out this paint.
I really like this change in this desk and really gave it a new fun look. It really is great using Milk Paint. I have never used it before. I will have to try this paint on my old desk.
you did a great job on the makeover, the paint looks great and love the name of the paint.
Oh my! What a fantastic makeover! I had never heard of Real Milk Paint before, but I’ll be checking it out. I have an old coffee table I’ve been wanting to give a makeover for a long time and this has inspired me! Thanks for sharing this!
This looks like awesome paint.
I would love to paint my bookcase using milk paint!
I haven’t tried milk paint yet, partly due to the cost. I’m in the middle of a project now, it’s base white, going over it with light grey and hope to find a darker grey glaze. Looking forward to getting some tester milk paint to tjy out in the future.
That is so beautiful you did a great job, this would be perfect paint for little projects around the house. I love that its non toxic I would usually have to wait for my kids to leave before I paint.
Oh…it looks great! It’s amazing how you can totally make a different look with a little elbow grease! 🙂
I have never seen milk paint before now. I learned something new.
You did a great job explaining what you were doing during each step. Final result was very good.
looks great what spray paint did u use on top of it ??
Hello! Here is what Randi said: The hardware, the drawer handles, those were spray painted with Rust-Oleum Hammered Black.
The desk itself was just the Real Milk Paint products.
What a great job you did. I have always been scared to try such a project
I never heard of this type of paint, will definitely have to check it out. I love your finished projects.
I’ve never heard of this paint, I like the way the desk turned out.