Move Mountains In Your Home
As I've mentioned a couple of times, there are a lot of new things I'm working on behind the scenes. One of those things is new colors for the milk paint line! Well, Lucketts is the perfect time to test out those colors "in the real world" on a piece of furniture, so I've been doing a lot of "testing"! Here is the first new color I'm introducing... Dried Lavender The names of my paint … [Read more...]
Those who have missed my furniture makeovers lately are going to enjoy this post! There's a lot more furniture painting around with corner with the Lucketts Antique Market fast approaching, but one of my freelance articles was to show a specialty paint technique on a pair of nightstands. Right up my alley! And it just so happened I wanted to paint the nightstands in my master … [Read more...]
Recently, some of my blog buddies have tried out my milk paint and I just had to share a couple pieces that knocked my socks off (in case you missed them!) The first was by Layla of The Lettered Cottage. Here's the piece before... I found it pretty interesting when she sent me the before picture. See, I had the twin... ...dangling hardware and all. Someone had removed the fretwork in … [Read more...]
A common question I've been getting lately is, "Can you paint milk paint over other painted finishes?" Yes, you can! This little dresser has been hanging around in my basement for a while and, after selling some other pieces, I was forced to work on it. The delay wasn't because I didn't like the piece, but because the drawer bottoms were jacked up and needed to be replaced. … [Read more...]
Well, I received another oh-crap-call from Lucketts on Saturday. The Painted Empire dresser sold the day after I brought it in. I guess I wasn't the only one in love with that finish! Here's how I did it... I've heard about using Vaseline (petroleum jelly) as a paint resist for a while, but I never tried it. On this empire dresser, I pictured layers of blue and wanted to have … [Read more...]
I got a call a few days ago from Lucketts It's a great call, but an "oh crap" kind of call, too. Both of my large furniture pieces had sold, so I needed to get some furniture into my space ASAP. I decided to sell a little wash stand I've had for a few years and I finally started working on the empire dresser I had in my basement for a while. Here's how it turned out... Here's … [Read more...]
Here it is... This is the piece I've been walking you through as I paint and finish it. You can check out the first post about painting it HERE and the second post about distressing and waxing it HERE. I purchased this wardrobe from an antique furniture store and it was beautiful to begin with, but it felt very dark and heavy. The wood was also not in the greatest condition, so … [Read more...]
It's now time to introduce the 12th and final color in my line of milk paint. Say hello to "Boxwood." Here's what the piece looked like before... My inspiration for the color was a boxwood bush (obviously.) I love the rich, green color of the leaves... ...and it looks striking on a piece of furniture. It's a bold … [Read more...]
It's time to introduce another one of my Milk Paint colors. Whew! Painting twelve dressers in all twelve of my colors has taken longer than I thought it would. I want all of my pieces to be special, but especially these pieces that will act as the "online swatch" for each color. After this piece, I only have one more left to do - "Boxwood." So, without further delay, here's … [Read more...]
I don't know why I left this piece sitting in my basement for so long! It was finished a couple of weeks ago and I finally hauled it up today for a photo shoot. I knew I would have fun with it and I did. It's definitely a favorite. Say hello to the MMS Milk Paint color "Grain Sack"... Here's the piece before... ...and this piece gets better when you … [Read more...]
I'm finally getting around to introducing another Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint color... ...Ironstone... What else would I call my white? For this piece, I'm so glad I finally got a lot of chipping. All white pieces aren't really my style, so I was hoping for lots of chippiness, which I got, and I left the top and drawers wood. Here's how the piece … [Read more...]
Time for another reveal of the next Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint color - "Kitchen Scale"... Here's how this piece started... Yeah, it's hard to believe it's the same piece, isn't it? Here's why I named the color Kitchen Scale... The color isn't exactly the same. My aqua has more green in it, but this scale was my … [Read more...]
It's time for another reveal of one of my Milk Paint colors. Here's Flow Blue... This is how the piece looked before I painted it.. ..and this is how it looked with two coats of paint, some detail painting and before I refinished the top. This is the part where I was not in love with it and was ready to start all over... ...but then I refinished … [Read more...]
What else would I call the black in my milk paint line? I thought about "fan", but that didn't work for me, so I went with Typewriter, one of my other favorite vintage decorating elements. Introducing this color was tricky for me because I don't usually paint pieces entirely black. It looks too heavy to me and I think you lose a lot of the detail of the piece. So, I decided to leave the … [Read more...]
Happy 4th of July to everyone! We just finished our hamburgers and corn and I'll partake of some black cherry ice cream once the boys go to bed. This morning, though, I had some time in the workshop to complete a couple of dressers to introduce two more of my milk paint colors and to get the pieces ready to take to Lucketts tomorrow. So, without further delay, say hello to Lucketts … [Read more...]
You found an awesome piece of furniture on Craig's List or at a yard sale for a great price. You bring it home and load it into your garage, maybe adding it to the large pile of other furniture finds. Maybe you have plans to use the piece in your home, you want to start selling pieces to earn some extra income, or you're planning to bring it to your established retail space. Days pass...then … [Read more...]
I had to do a lot for my book. A lot. It was so much more work than I anticipated. Weeks of writing, hundreds of pictures, hours of photo editing, weeks of rewriting, dozens of projects and days of staging. After all of the work, some of what I did didn't make the cut. That's a good thing. When I'm writing for my blog, I don't have to carefully edit myself, because I can write another … [Read more...]
Come on...what else could I name the yellow in my milk paint line? Yep. It's "Mustard Seed" yellow. It's sort of a warm honey, muted mustard color. I started out with a stronger yellow, but it looked more like school bus than mustard seed, so I had to go back to the drawing (mixing) board and I'm happy with where I landed. I think it's a perfect yellow for a piece of furniture. … [Read more...]
Well, I am totally whipped. I have actually resorted to giving myself pep talks over the last couple of days. "Ok, Marian. Just paint this dresser. That's all you need to do right now, then you can focus on the next thing." I have made everyone promise to force me to get in bed early tonight. The truck is loaded (I can't believe I filled a 17' truck!), I'm finished with all of my … [Read more...]
Here's the next color in my line of Milk Paint! I'd like to introduce you to "French Enamel." Here's the dresser before... (You can take a moment to revive the wood lover next to you who just passed out at the sight of this beautiful wood being painted.) I know it was beautiful, but it wasn't in great condition and needed to be fully refinished or painted. So, I … [Read more...]
I'm so excited to introduce the first color in Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint line..."Shutter Gray." So, maybe you're wondering why I'm calling it Shutter Gray. I've decided to name the colors in my line after things I love and decorate with. I have a few awesome chippy gray shutters, so when I thought of a name for gray, shutters immediately came to … [Read more...]
For those who don't know, my business started as a decorative painting/mural business. About a year into it, I realized I didn't want to paint stuff on everything. Sometimes I just wanted to paint something and leave it at that. More and more, that's what I wanted to do, so I adapted my business to better reflect my personal taste. I have held onto my artist brushes, though, and every once in a … [Read more...]
Thanks so much for all of your sweet comments and encouragement in response to my recent big announcement! I really do feel like I have a huge group of friends who have been with me through this journey and you're cheering me on. It's an awesome feeling and it means a lot to me. The next three weeks are going to be insane. I'm getting stocked up for the Lucketts Antique Market, which … [Read more...]
For those of you who have missed my furniture before & afters - this post is for you! Today I'm sharing a classic Miss Mustard Seed dresser makeover. I bought this dresser off of Craig's List a couple of weeks ago. It looks like it's natural wood, but it's actually painted brown. It did have the original hardware, though and it's solid as a … [Read more...]
Over the past couple of months I've been working on my work office (not to be confused with our home office) for a magazine feature. It's been so fun moving things around and adding some pops of color to inject a bit more personality into the space. The art director asked me to move the fabric from my mirrored armoire, which wasn't being photographed to my French armoire, which was. Well, … [Read more...]
