Why We Love MilkPaint™
In case you didn’t know, we’re pretty crazy about MilkPaint™! Our affection for our powdered paint is pretty contagious, and we’ve invited a few friends to share their reasons for falling in love with our products as well.
This, dear readers, is a love letter to MilkPaint™!
James and Brenda Hess - Co-owners of MMS MilkPaint™
Brenda Hess - Owner of Miss Mustard Seed’s® MilkPaint™
As the new owner of MilkPaint™, I could talk for HOURS about all of the reasons why I love this versatile product. Aside from the fact that it’s non-toxic, eco-friendly, food-contact safe, contains no VOC’s and is plant-based, I absolutely love its versatility.
What other paint can create so many different looks? Mix it thick, and you created age, grunge and texture. Mix it thin and you’ve got yourself a stain or a wash. You can dye fabric with it, paint wood, ceramic, glass, tile, brick and metal (just to name a few).
Best of all, you get to decide how you want to Move Mountains In Your Home with this product. You can make it what you want and need it to be. There’s a two-way relationship between you and the product. It’s completely customizable to suit your taste.
That’s what we strive for here at MMS MilkPaint™ - to provide quality refinishing products that are safe for our customers, good for the planet, and represent our deep love for the simple beauty of MilkPaint™.
Chris Hardine - Midwest Cottage and Finds | MMSMP Social Media
Versatility - chippy, a translucent wash, solid and uniform…
In my business, I recreate all styles and types of furniture. Being a small business owner, I need products that can cover a wide range of looks and create a feel that allows my pieces to speak for themselves. With Miss Mustard Seed’s® MilkPaint™, I can layer different colors, bringing the feeling of old-world vintage. I can turn around the next day and recreate a Mid-Century Modern piece using the same products.
Versatility - that is why I love MilkPaint™!
Elizabeth Jones - Country Peony
I heart Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint, because of the charm and character it adds to my furniture makeovers and my crafting projects.
Every time I play with Miss Mustard's Seed's Milk Paint I learn something new about this versatile paint, and I am inspired to try new techniques with it.
Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint has the ability to add that special touch to all of my projects that I haven't seen from any other paint before.
Jenn Baker - Jennifer Baker Creative | MMSMP Blog and Newsletter
I fell in love with MilkPaint™ like many of you did - through Miss Mustard Seed herself. Every day, I would anxiously wait for her latest blog post to come out, and drool as I savored every chippy image of her furniture makeovers. I would get lost in her stories, antique hauls and explanations on how she mixed this strange stuff called MilkPaint™.
When I got to meet her in person at Lucketts one year, we talked about how she got started with her blog and “all the things”. Her encouragement meant the world to me, and it was then that I realized I could have that kind of life too!
Eventually, MilkPaint™ inspired me to leave the world of public education behind, and become a professional furniture refinisher. I was tired of being bound up with red tape and standardized tests. I wanted to create and break free from all of the constraints that controlled every single thing that I did, and held me back from being the kind of teacher I wanted to be.
MilkPaint™ introduced me to a whole new world of incredible antique shop owners, bloggers, fellow refinishers and other artisans. Our friendships are still going strong to this day, and there’s no way I would have known these amazing people existed had I not been in the MilkPaint™ circle.
This is the product that I have retailed in my antique booths, demonstrated during hours of workshops, Facebook lives and Instagram stories. It’s the paint that I can’t get enough of and can talk about for hours on end. It fascinates me, fills me up on the inside and delights me again and again.
MilkPaint™ is more than a paint to me. It represents all of the good things that have come from taking that brave step towards a life filled with creativity, freedom and the ability to share my passion with other people. I often joke with Brenda that my role here is #dreamjob, because to me, it is. I get to take pictures of, write about and support this magical powdered paint that done so much for me.
Here at the company, when we say “there are endless possibilities in every pouch”, we truly mean it. They go waaaaay beyond how your project is going to turn out. They are the intangible possibilities that wake up inside of you and come alive with each and every brushstroke.
I hope that soon, you get to experience the same love for MilkPaint™ that I have every single day.
Kathy Decher - Vintage 61 Storehouse
Parkinson’s and Paint
Having an art degree doesn’t always mean you’re an artist. The world gets difficult sometimes. It can even be painful. You go through each stage of life meeting the demands of the every day and you leave parts of yourself with everyone else, but did you leave time for you.
Sure there were moments where the inside artist couldn’t help but see things the way an artist sees. But art is the execution of idea. Without execution, ideas are stagnant future regrets.
When I got diagnosed with Parkinson’s, it was after great change in my life. Painful change. A divorce I never saw coming and a massive move to live alone states away. I came to take care of my parents. But I still hadn’t taken care of me.
A diagnosis like mine takes the wind out of your sails. Self doubt, fear and an overwhelming feeling of, “What have I failed to do?” that now can no longer be done. Forced change in nearly every avenue of my life was paralyzing. But one thing was clear, it can’t be! It’s time to get busy!
I always loved vintage things. And at times in my life have been a dealer in vintage shops. It was a side thing while being an art director, a producer, and eventually a side thing while being a stay at home mom. So once again I set up shop, and found myself at Vintage 61 Storehouse. Here I was motivated to expand my vision and soon I was painting furniture. That was something new for me. I would visualize what a piece could be and was motivated to create. My space was a practice in design and soon I became the designer for all of these 20,000 square feet of opportunity.
I take great pride in seeing my contribution to this rare shop. And I am thankful that I was given the freedom to create what is now looked upon as a place for ideas. A design center. My Parkinson’s can limit me at times. But the team at Vintage 61, is ready to lift and move and contribute to our creations. It’s a true blessing to be able to see your concepts come together with a team of such talented women.
Adrenaline masks pain for a time, but I have found painting even more transforming. Taking the steps to prepare a piece and following the method of mixtures are so calming. And when I put brush to surface I am no less the runner who is overcome by endorphins. My mind detaches from my limits and I exist in that experience. Every design choice is practiced. Color, consistency, do I want chippy or will I add bonding agent? How many coats? Do I like the stain like finish or do I want an opaque quality? Next comes distressing and choosing a final finish. Wax? Hemp oil? Every step creates a new direction. And for that window of time I have found stillness to my ever-vibrating body. I have found peacefulness. I have for that brief window time found me.
So this is me. Kathryn Decher, vintage dealer, interior designer, blogger, and Artist who got busy fighting Parkinson’s Disease.
Kathy Young - The Upstream Home
I love the authentic and organic look MMSMP inevitably gives each and every piece! I am interested in the story that each antique piece of furniture tells and find that MMSMP accentuates the story, instead of covering up the story. I prefer to embrace the imperfections found on 100 year old pieces of furniture and find that MMSMP honors the history of the piece while also offering a fresh new look! The perfect combination of old meets new, MMSMP is my go-to paint choice for creating a modern farmhouse finish.
Laura Lee Hughes - Vintage 61 Storehouse
Busy. Hectic. Overwhelmed. These words can be used to describe my life any day of the week.
But when I get to pick up a paint brush, my body relaxes and my mind quiets. These moments alone transforming a piece of furniture bring my life to a much needed pause. I feel like I am able to think and my surroundings drift away… Life becomes calm, reflective, and peaceful.
We all have so many things entering into our lives at any given time, and as a mom of three and a small business owner, I ricochet through my days from school drop off right to “shop life” filled with decisions, stocking, ordering, refinishing, and problem solving. Then it’s right back to school pick up, homework, practices, dinner, and bedtime.
It’s tiring, but so rewarding.
So… when I get to mix Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint and start my first brush stroke, it’s this feeling of home, familiar, and a much-welcomed bliss.
It is my way to solve problems in my business… and also to think things through in my home life. It is that part of my life that is just for me. It’s my time alone with my ideas and problems. It’s my creative place to solve it all.
I get to step back - project finished - a little more at peace. With the hard decisions made, I am calmer to tackle everything my kids need… and happier to enjoy every moment I get with my family.
Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint holds a place in my life that brings joy and allows me to get my world back to center.
