Furniture Feature Friday

Every Friday, we feature a beautiful Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint project in our Move Mountains With Milk Paint Facebook Group - a thriving and bustling online community where creative minds come together to inspire, help and encourage one another.

This week’s featured piece is a pine hutch that was in desperate of a makeover! Julie from Reclaimed and Lovely snagged it for a steal at $35 and refinished it using a custom blend of Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint.

Prepping the Hutch

Here’s what Julie’s hutch looked like when she first brought it home.

As you can see, the piece had a lot of knots dotted across the surface, as well as a very strong red/orange original stain. Pieces like this definitely need to be prepped before a coat of MMS Milk Paint is applied! Those knots and original stain color are prime candidates for causing bleed-through.

To learn how we suggest prepping and preventing bleed-through on your piece, check out this blog post:

For this piece in particular, we suggest applying 2-3 very light coats of dewaxed shellac, and gently scuff sanding with a maroon synthetic steel wood pad. This will give your shellac some “tooth” so your Milk Paint can adhere, and will also help prevent it from crackling.

Julie’s Custom Shade of Blue

When Julie first painted this piece, she wasn’t too happy with the color. It wasn’t quite what she had in mind. When she went back to the drawing board, she mixed up a blend of equal parts Artissimo and Aviary. This custom color gives you the moody blue/gray cast of Aviary with the rich depth of Artissimo.

It pairs so well with the warmth of the wood top and the bright whites of her ironstone pieces!

We like how she distressed the edges of the hutch, letting that original finish peek out here and there!

Special Touches

For an extra special touch, Julie lined the drawers of her hutch with a whimsically patterned paper.

She thoughtfully adhered it with glue dots in each corner. This would allow the future owner to swap it out or remove it completely if they wish. Isn’t that such a great idea?!

The knobs she used coordinated perfectly with her hutch’s new finish.

A Hemp Oil Finish

To hydrate and seal her piece, Julie used our Hemp Oil. This made her custom color as deep and rich as possible.

If you’d like to see more of Julie’s work, you can follow her business, Reclaimed and Lovely, on Facebook and Instagram. Or, you can stop by her antique booth at Wirewood Market in Altamonte Springs, Florida if you’re local.

We also invite you to join our Facebook Group, Move Mountains with Milk Paint, and become a part of our creative community!