Good afternoon and hurrah because tomorrow is SATURDAY!!!

Today I just have to share with you a piece I have literally just finished ( I mean the wax is still curing on this baby).I have to warn you though, that this post contains LOTS of pictures!! Im a photo freak!!

The piece I am working on is a gorgeous old antique oak writing bureau that I picked up at an antique auction a few months back. A month or so ago I bought 9 of the Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint Colours to try out from my lovely fellow painter Monique from Dandelion Wood (also the local stockist for Miss Mustard Seeds, Websters, L’essentials Waxes and all sorts of other lovely products and goodies). Today I am finally trying out the paint properly on a medium size piece of furniture.

So here is my paint … and this is what it looks like when you open the packet…

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Don’t be frightened!! Despite the powder looking remotely like cement dust it will soon be transformed into this …

 … and mixed with this …. 

For this project I used an old Mason style jar to mix my paint in so that I could keep any leftovers. I measured 4 very round tablespoons into the jar (looking back I should have added the water first) so roughly it was 1/4 jar of water to 1/4 jar of powder. I used the spoon to stir it all together then I whizzed it up with my gorgeous little mixer. The mix was a tad thick … almost like pancake batter so I added more water till it was more like a milkshake. Then I let it sit for 5 mins and then whizzed and stirred some more. I chose not to add the bonding agent as the surface of this piece was not very shiny and was quite porous. Plus I wanted to get a little bit of that awesome ‘chippy’ look happening if possible.  Now for the fun part 😀

This is the natural bristle brush I chose to use for this project (you can grab them at Masters for around $5) … my paint was mixed and ready to use. I was really curious to see how it would apply as it is so much thinner to work with than chalk style paints. This is my first few brush strokes..

The paint actually went on really thick … perhaps too thick so I watered it down a tad more. Now your paint may have blobby / chunky bits in it .. don’t freak out!! It is normal (especially if you put the powder in your jar first) they will sink to the bottom and if you keep stirring your paint now and then and adding any water if needed they will gradually dissolve. This is the lid painted..

 .. pretty good coverage for one coat and lovely strong colour!!

So the first coat was really quick to apply and dried fast too … here it is with one full coat

 (if you are like me and are too much of a sook to work out in the cold then please make sure you put a drop cloth down… it saves a lot of mess and your floors)

The coverage of one coat was really good, in fact all up I needed 2 coats for this particular colour. I decided to paint the door panels and trims in MMS Milk Paint – Linen. This time I added the water first to a jar and then the powder which gave a much smoother mix. I decided to leave the interior section of the desk unpainted. It has all these really cool ink stains and wear marks and I thought that it would be a shame to cover them up.

I painted the door panels and trims .. it took 4 coats of this colour to get the depth and coverage that I wanted but it went on easy and dried fast. Now for some sanding (i used a medium and fine sanding sponge alternating with the two to get the distressing I wanted) the white panels on the doors were a bit shiny before painting so I was hoping I would get some chippy paint happening. I used a plastic scraper and gently ran it over the surface in areas that looked a little flakey or raised and sure enough I got some wonderful chippyness happening. The areas that wanted to chip did and those that had adhered well didn’t. I thought that this would freak me out as when it comes to painting I can be a bit of a control freak (as my husband will tell you) but suprisingly I really enjoyed the randomness of it, it looked more natural and I like that the piece tells its own tale.

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Now it was time for waxing the piece. I decided to use my L’essentials Lustre Wax it smells good enough to eat and is 100% safe on the skin. Before waxing its best to wipe over the piece with a tacky cloth (you can get these from masters for 50c each and they are great for removing dust from the surface of your piece). A soft clean cloth will do if you don’t have a tacky cloth.

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You can really see where the wax is applied, it transforms the finish from a dusty washed out finish to a glorious rich and detailed patina. The paint just drinks up the wax which is great as you don’t have to bust your elbows working it in!! After I waxed the piece I gave it a light rub down and it was done…

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The two tiny little knobs at the front are to pull out the support rails for the top to open down onto 🙂

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I literally could not stop photographing this piece it is just perfect!!

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I hope you love it as much as I do … what are your thoughts?