Milk Paint Furniture..... China Hutch Sneak Peek

So, last weekend I tried milk paint for the first time on a china hutch that I bought for my bathroom. As for the results, I'm really happy with the way it all turned out. I used the driftwood on the back and pitch black on the rest of the cabinet. The only issue I ran into was the paint kept clumping. You have to stir it frequently and well. When I first mixed the paint ( I used warm water per the instructions), the directions say to stir for 2-3 minutes and then let it sit for 10-15 min. Easy enough. After that, I stirred it again really well and then started to apply with a sponge brush. After a short time, it seemed to clump back up so you really have to stir every so often. The finish is very matte and the adhesion is good. I bought the polymer adder for adhesion and added to the paint mix before applying. I did a very rough sand on the cabinet, just enough to dull the shine. After two coats, I lightly distressed it and them applied two coats of Minwax clear satin wipe on poly ( I love that stuff). Keep in mind if you try this, the color will darken up quite a bit with the poly top coat. I knew this and expected it so I was really happy with the results. I put the original hardware on the door but will use different hardware on the drawers.  Not sure if I want to use the pulls from Anthro yet because there's something that's "eh" about it.  Maybe when it gets moved into place in the bathroom it will be clear.  For now, I'll show you the finished piece as is, then I'll show you a pic all done up and pretty.  Here's the before:

 

And here's the after

 

 

 

A couple things to note:  First, we took the top piece of moulding off and replaced it with a smaller piece lower on the cabinet to make the piece lower.  In the bathroom, this doesn't cover the new window but I wanted as much clearance under the new window as possible.  This is as best as we can get and actually I like it better this way.  Also, there is a little piece of moulding missing on the bottom right door panel that I have ready to go back on.  So when I show you the pic of it all pretty, this will be all fixed.  Well, what do you think?  Painting the back a lighter color really makes the shelves pop and it keeps this piece from being really heavy feeling.  I've got another piece of furniture that I'm going to do in Driftwood so I'll share that with you too when I start that project.  Ciao for now!