Roll Top Desk Make Over {Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint Review}

One of my favorite blogs is Miss Mustard Seed. I love her decorating style and the furniture she refinishes. She came out with her own brand of milk paint called Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint.

I had heard of milk paint, but always thought it was something you could only use on raw wood. Milk paint was how they used to paint furniture back in the 1800s. If you have an antique piece of furniture from the 1800s that has original paint on it, chances are it is milk paint.

Once I started doing a little research, I learned that milk paint can be used on any finish, not just raw wood! It gives a great antique, chippy look when it's distressed, so I thought I would try it out.

Here are a few things to consider when you're choosing this paint:

• It comes in powder form, so you only have to mix what you need. It's easy to mix - you just add water.
• The consistency is much thinner than latex, oil or chalk paint. It resembles, well, milk. Slightly thicker than water, but still a bit runny.
• There are more color variations since you do have to mix it yourself. If the pigments don't stay mixed in, the paint can change colors slightly. So, remember to stir frequently.
• If you don't use a bonding agent, this paint will chip naturally. Be prepared for large portions of paint to come off in some areas. If you like to be in control of your distressing, this is NOT the paint for you.
• You don't have to sand or prep your furniture in any way when using this paint.
• A top, protective coat is necessary with this paint. I chose to use a wax finish on mine.

All in all, I highly recommend Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint. It comes in a variety of great colors, and it's much more affordable than many chalk paints on the market. I like it because you only mix what you need at the time, so I feel that you waste less paint that way. Plus, the way this paint distresses gives your furniture a true antique finish that other paints can't accomplish.

If you want a no fuss paint that stores easily, lasts forever in it's powder form, and is affordable - go out and purchase a bag of milk paint for yourself! Let me know how you like it!

Go to Miss Mustard Seed's page to find out where you can purchase paint in your area, and to learn more about how to mix and distress the paint.

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The Fireplace is so Delightful!

Well the weather outside might be frightful just about everywhere this week, but I have to say my fireplace is certainly delightful!

When we were discussing remodeling our living room, we debated on what to do about our fireplace. It was floor to ceiling slate tiles, and even though I would love a floor to ceiling brick fireplace that option just wasn't in our budget. We literally had about $100 to spend on all remodeling in our living room - wainscoting (see it HERE), barn wood bar wall (see it HERE), paint, and now our fireplace.

So, instead of tearing out and starting over, we did what any budget conscience DIYer would do. We went to our paint cabinet to see what we had on hand. Luckily, we had a light gray paint that would look great with the blue I had picked out for the walls and the bright white wainscoting that would be right next to it as well.

All we did to prep the surface was wipe down the tiles with a damp cloth. We grabbed paint brushes and started painting. Let me say, we had no idea if this was even going to work. We just used your everyday Behr Paint from Home Depot - water based, latex paint. We didn't even prime!

I really thought it was going to peel off, but we did our scratch test after the first coat. Guess what? That paint wasn't going anywhere!

We did two coats of grey paint, and this is what it looks like now:

Well, I guess as of today, it doesn't look like this anymore. I've taken down Christmas decorations and have started putting up a few Valentine's Day things. I've never decorated for Valentine's Day;  I usually go into a void of decorating between Christmas and Easter. This year, I thought I would jump on the Valentine's bandwagon.

How do you like to decorate for Valentine's Day? I need some good ideas for my mantel and front porch.

{Old} French, Meet {New} French

My Granny had amazing style and taste. You never would have guessed she grew up poor on a farm in the middle of Oklahoma during the Great Depression when you met her. Her house was full of French Provincial decor, which I really never took notice of until I started decorating my own home. I suddenly realized why I loved the French style so much; it reminds me of her.

While my Granny did have impeccable taste, her French style is what I call Old French, or 1970's inspired French. She had the yellows and olive greens with lots of gold and dark stained furniture. While I know some of those colors are making a come back, it's not exactly my style.

I was blessed enough to inherit a few pieces of furniture from Granny, and I was so excited to inherit her dining room set. Since I'm trying to stick with lighter tones and more of the Gustavian style, I thought the chairs needed a little updating.

I chose to paint the chairs with ASCP (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint) Old White. I distressed them and finished them off with clear wax. I found this great French print upholstery fabric for 50% off at Hancock's Fabric. Two and a half yards covered all 6 chairs, plus I have enough to make a couple of throw pillows, too!

For now, I decided to keep the table stained as is. I really like the contrast of the painted chairs and the dark table.

I ran out of time before the holidays to finish painting all 6 chairs. (There are two arm chairs that I keep in other parts of the house.)

So, before Thanksgiving I just recovered the seat cushions of the last two chairs and left them with their original stain.

 

I keep going back and forth on whether or not I want to paint these last two chairs. What do you think - paint or not paint?