Mixing Up A Custom Shade Of Teal With MMS MilkPaint™

When I came across this gorgeous mahogany dresser, I knew I wanted it to be refinished in a vibrant, saturated color.

I decided to mix up a custom blend of 2 parts Flow Blue, 1 part Ink Blue and 1 part Boxwood to create a gorgeous shade of teal. With a little bit of MilkOil™ and some Rub N Buff, this dresser took on a whole new look!

Prep Work

This dresser was a solid piece of furniture. The structure of it was sound and it didn’t need any major repairs.

The only problem was the finish. It had definitely seen better days and was in pretty rough shape, so I had no guilt about refinishing this depression-era piece with MilkPaint™.

I started work by prep sanding the piece with 150 grit sandpaper. While the finish on the top was flaking off, the finish on the drawer fronts was still in tact. I wanted to rough that up a bit so MilkPaint™ would adhere.

This is what a good scuff sanding looks like. You don’t have to break out the orbital sander and remove the existing finish completely. Just break the surface of the existing finish and rough it up a bit. It should take you less than 15 minutes to do a piece like this.

I used my vacuum to get rid of the dust, then set off to mix up my custom MilkPaint™ color!

Mixing Up A Custom MilkPaint™ Color

I wanted to create a lovely shade of teal, so I used a recipe of 2 parts Flow Blue, 1 part Ink Blue and 1 part Boxwood. I wanted the vibrance of Flow Blue, a hint of green with the Boxwood and some darkness with the Ink Blue.

If you’ve never mixed up a custom MilkPaint™ color, it’s really easy. Decide what your “part” will be. In my case, it was tablespoons. I tripled the formula so I had enough paint to cover the dresser.

After 2 coats, the piece was looking really good! The coverage of the MilkPaint™ was awesome, and I knew that MilkOil™ would wake up that dusty and ashy teal color in no time.

Applying MilkOil™

Before I applied my MilkOil™ topcoat, I distressed the edges of my dresser with sandpaper. After wiping the dust away, I poured some oil in a cup and began painting it on the piece.

The transformation was instantaneous!

After I covered the whole piece in MilkOil™, I let it sit for about 15 minutes or so. Then, I used a lint-free shop towel and began wiping away the excess oil from the surface. The reason why I let it sit before wiping it away was to give the oil a chance to soak in.

Now after you’ve MilkOil™’ed a piece of furniture, you may notice splotches and uneven patches. That’s totally normal. The oil will absorb at different rates across the surface of your project. It will even out in a few days.

I used a little bit of “Autumn Gold” metallic wax from Rub ‘n Buff to spruce up the original Hepplewhite style pulls. Look at the difference it made!

The Final Result

After some staging, my dresser had the vibrant teal finish I had envisioned from the start.

So are you ready to start whipping up custom colors for your next MilkPaint™ projects? Make sure you share them with MMS MilkPaint™ on social media!