{Milk Paint Dresser} – Before & After

last updated: May 29, 2013

I just got this cute little vintage dresser a few days ago that my dad found.  Its rare that i get a piece that doesnt need a lot of work and i can just get to painting it.  But this was one of the rarities and i got right on it :)

Sweet Pickins Furniture - Milk Paint Dresser

The only change i made, was to the hardware.  I just swapped it out with something that still matched the age of the dresser, but with some that i liked better.  I used bondo to fill the old holes.

After sanding down the bondo, i gave the dresser a coat of primer.  Normally when using milk paint, you dont have to prime 1st, but i wanted to do a little test and see how it went.  I also needed to cover up all the bondo’d hardware holes – i didnt want those to show up after painting with milk paint since you never know what its going to do.

I decided on a custom color for this one and mixed up some milk paint in Sea Green and Slate – 50/50 ratio – both colors are from Old Fashioned Milk Paint.

After painting 2 coats i distressed it with a sanding block.  When you go over it with the sanding block, it makes it super smooth and almost burnishes it giving it a slightly shiny smooth as butter finish.  This helps when glazing over milk paint otherwise it would be to flat and porous and make the glaze really splotchy.

I glazed using a new technique that i will show you all tomorrow :)

And the after…this piece is so much prettier in person!  Im really happy with how it turned out.

Sweet Pickins Furniture - Milk Paint Dresser

I love the color with the antique brass hardware – it works perfectly.

Sweet Pickins Furniture - Milk Paint Dresser

This time, the milk paint didnt chip or flake off at all.  I assume because i primed 1st.  But you can see in the pic below that i did get some crackling in some areas – i love when that happens!

Sweet Pickins Furniture - Milk Paint Dresser

Sweet Pickins Furniture - Milk Paint Dresser

Sweet Pickins Furniture - Milk Paint Dresser

The 411

Color = old fashioned milk paint in Sea Green and Slate, mixed 50/50

Wax/Glaze finish = check tomorrows post for how to!!

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This piece is available for purchase in the Sweet Pickins Shop!!