Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint Archives | Page 8 of 42

Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint

Furniture Feature Friday

step-back cupboard reveal

I shared my progress on the step-back cupboard yesterday and here it is all prettied up! As a reminder, here is how it looked before. Well, it had part of the first coat on the top, but this angle better shows what a mess it was! My goal in giving it a makeover was not to make it look new, but to retain it’s age and charm and lose the pencil scribbles, grease spots, spray paint, and definitely the cobwebs and dirt. It didn’t need an extreme makeover, but a little attention to bring out the beauty of the inset door panels, hardware and utilitarian shape. Again, I painted it in a custom mix of two part Eulalie’s Sky to one part Layla’s Mint, both from the MMS Milk Paint line. The back and inset panels were painted in Linen. I finished it out in matte Tough Coat. And isn’t

January 27, 2017 29 Comments

Before and Afters

say “hello” to Outback Petticoat

Last year, we retired two colors from the Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint line, Apron Strings and Dried Lavender. I’d like to keep our line at 25 colors, so we are replacing them with two new colors. And one of those colors is launching today – Outback Petticoat. It’s orange, in case that wasn’t apparent. Let me tell you, orange was really tough for me! First of all, I needed to convince myself to create an orange. Since I don’t use a lot of orange, I couldn’t easily envision it on a piece of furniture. But, I searched for inspiration and found loads of beautiful rooms, pieces, and color palettes featuring orange. I decided I could get on board with it. Once I was at peace with orange, the second difficulty was finding the right shade. Orange can go bad very easily. While developing the color, I ended up with all

January 17, 2017 75 Comments

All Things Home

a grain bin turned coffee table

When I shared the industrial-style coffee table a few months ago, some of you called it. It just didn’t work with my style. While I like the table a lot and it was very functional, it was too large for the space and the longer I lived with it, the more it felt off with everything else in the room. Great piece, wrong space. Since I realized that, I’ve been looking around at antique stores and craigslist for something to replace it, but pieces were either the wrong size, wrong style, etc. I finally came across an old grain bin on craigslist. It was a little longer than what I was looking for, but otherwise the dimensions were perfect. It wasn’t blue, either, but it was really old, had a lot of character, and, at $105, the price was right. After thinking if over for a few days (and seeing that

December 9, 2016 81 Comments

All Things Home

my new creative workspace

Yesterday, I was a determined woman. Despite the gloomy weather, I was in the mood to organize, purge, and get my creative space put together. We have organized and cleaned out the studio here and there, but we haven’t picked through each bin and each drawer, keeping only the things that are really used. It was time. It was long past time. Kriste and I worked together, emptying out the contents of bins, drawers, cabinets, and cubbies, and grouped like things together, so we could actually see everything and make more informed decisions about what to get rid of and where a group of items should be stored. We found all sorts of fun and useful stuff that I entirely forgot I had and we also found eight trash bags full of completely superfluous stuff that I gleefully hauled to the dumpster. (We also found some things that other people might want that we’ll list

December 8, 2016 42 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

The art cabinet makeover

The art cabinet is finished! In case you forgot (or missed it), here is how it looked when I bought it… It was charming as is, but it was a bit orange for me and I had a “vision” for it. You can see more details on the before HERE and the pieces that inspired me HERE. Finding really cool hardware was a key part of executing my vision. I sourced these cast iron pulls from England on … They were the perfect hardware to dress up the drawers. It was a little tricky installing them, though! The drawer dimensions were irregular and several were broken, so I had to eyeball a lot of the pulls, hoping they were lined up and level. I painted the cabinet in MMS Milk Paint Grain Sack. I didn’t sand or prep the piece and I ended up with a lot more chipping than I wanted! I paint a

November 22, 2016 40 Comments

Before and Afters

Angie’s Landscape Dresser

Let me start by saying that I rarely accept custom work, but this one just felt right. Angie, the client, said I could just do what I do and her only request was that I “add critters”. She also wasn’t in a rush, so I was able to work on it when I had time and as inspiration struck. Kriste lightly sanded the piece and painted it in two coats of MMS Milk Paint Farmhouse White to give a blank white “canvas” for the landscape. I decided to paint this one almost entirely with milk paint. I have been mixing acrylics into the other dressers I’ve done, but I wanted to keep these colors very soft. I also wanted to do the landscape primarily in blues and green/blues. I used Eulalie’s Sky, Shutter Gray, and Farmhouse White for the clouds, Flow Blue, Trophy and Shutter Gray for the mountains, Boxwood, Lucketts

November 20, 2016 37 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

it gets worse before it gets better…

I took some time the day before I left for Montana to work on my “new” art cabinet. The hardware I ordered off of Etsy had arrived and I was eager to start transforming it. I also added some antique wheels that I picked up at a local antique store. I wanted something unique, but I’m still deciding if I like these or not. I’ll reserve judgement until it’s all done, though. Casters are easy to change out and I can always use these for another project if I decide not to use them on this piece. Here is how the piece looked with the hardware and label holders removed. I decided to paint the piece in MMS Milk Paint Grain Sack, leaving the top wood. I usually paint pieces with the drawer in, but the drawers had quite an overlap, so they needed to be removed. Since there

November 14, 2016 25 Comments

Before and Afters

Schloss Highboy Dresser

When we moved Calvin into the guest room, he decided to keep the dresser that was in there, so his old dresser became an extra. A couple of weeks ago, we finally muscled this piece down the stairs and took it over to the studio. It’s a beautiful piece, but the finish was pretty dinged up and tired. It looks a bit better in the picture than it does in person… Kriste and I tag-teamed this piece and I love how it turned out! We lightly sanded the finish to give it “tooth” and then painted it in two coats of MMS Milk Paint Schloss. I lightly distressed the edges with medium grit sandpaper just to soften the newness of the paint and bring out some of the details of the piece. Kriste finished it off with MMS Hemp Oil to protect the finish and bring out the beauty of

September 26, 2016 27 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

next art sale

May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

Now Available for Preorder

Move Slow & Make Things

A book about creativity, intention, and making things with care. Sign up to receive updates, preorder details, and exclusive bonus content.

From the Studio

Artful pieces for your home and everyday life.

From original paintings and art prints to Pup Club releases and curated goods, each piece is created or chosen to bring warmth, creativity, and character into your home.

From the Studio and Home

Shop the Feed

A handpicked collection of items styled and shared throughout posts, projects, and social feeds. Every product is thoughtfully chosen to reflect a timeless, collected aesthetic.