Tricycle Red Radio Cabinet | Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint Makeover
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Today’s project is painted with Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint. The milk paint color is Tricycle, but I call it red because some people might not picture tricycles as being red. 
Milk paint is a very different paint product from what I normally use and I was a little nervous about my first go at it. I shouldn’t have been because not only was it easy, it was fun!
Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint Furniture Makeover
I finally gave up on having a full-day to work on this first milk paint project and just grabbed the paint and went to work. I don’t seem to get nearly as many things accomplished in a day as I used to. Is it because I’m getting older or what?
Information About Milk Paint
This radio cabinet usually sits in our family room. It’s a great display piece for my vintage handmade quilts. Before starting this project, I watched Marian’s (aka Miss Mustard Seed ) videos on YouTube. They are short and to the point, showing how easy it is to use milk paint.
You mix the milk paint with water and stir, and stir, and stir. It takes a few minutes to dissolve all the powder, but after that, you just paint. I painted on two coats, back to back, because that’s how fast the paint dried.
When The Milk Paint Dries
Next comes the cool part. After it dries, the paint just starts falling off. Seriously, it does. Marian says you never know how much will chip off and I found that to be true on my first piece. The paint chipped off the front of the cabinet and the top of the legs but not very much on the rest of it.
As you can tell from the before picture, this cabinet was made of various kinds of wood and finishes. I guess that’s what made the difference in the chipping. I took a sander to the areas that didn’t chip. I also used a sanding block on the front where the paint was loose but hadn’t chipped off.
For a little added touch, I used some Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint in Shutter Gray around the corners and the top edge of the cabinet—just very lightly. I finished the piece with dark wax to give the color more depth.
Mixing The Milk Paint
Combine 1 part powder to 1¼ to 1½ parts water. I mixed up about 1½ cups of paint.
I would recommend measuring the powder and water at least the first few times you mix the paint. After that, you can probably eyeball it and get it right.
Of course, I didn’t measure mine because I’m crazy like that. So, I had to keep adding and stirring until I got the mix right. See, I’m trying to save you time. I used only a small part of the bag of powder……that means lots left over for more projects
I like the hardware I chose from Hobby Lobby, but it was very distracting in the photos, so I removed it halfway through the shoot.
The look is totally different from distressing a piece of furniture with sandpaper. I think the chippy paint makes the cabinet look more aged as if the paint had been on there for years, versus the sanded distressed look.
I loved the way the paint just chipped off. What do ya’ll think about the chipping. I really think this is the look I’ve been going for with some of my paint projects but I just didn’t get there because I was sanding the paint off.
Twelve years later, the paint is still pretty, and there has been no more chipping. The Hemp Oil is great for that. It just adds an extra layer of protection and is also water resistant.
Update to this post: June 2018: I made a video using milk paint on a new project. Seeing the process in action is a big help. You can see it below.
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”LobtzkYL” upload-date=”2017-11-20T18:58:46.000Z” name=”Milk Paint Tutorial” description=”mms milk paint, miss mustard seeds milk paint, chippy paint, furniture makeover, before and after, painted furniture”]
Links to popular Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint projects…..
Antique Bed painted Vintage Rose special mix MMS
Mustard Seed Yellow Milk Paint Cabinet ….3 different shades of Mustard Seed made by mixing it with MMS Ironstone
Hutch painted in Shutter Gray and Tricycle Tutorial….these two colors complement each other perfectly
Painting Tips for Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint….things I learned using the paint
This project was originally published on Petticoat Junktion in 2012. It has been updated with new information and photos.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great week, Kathy
