Milk Paint on Kids’ Furniture
Modern furniture is usually not destined to be kept as a family heirloom. Most modern pieces are made from cheap materials that break as soon as you move the item from one end of the room to another. In a kid’s room, cheap furniture is a bad idea, since kids tend to treat furniture with very little respect. It is a much better idea to invest in older pieces of wooden furniture that are solid and well crafted, and then paint them.
Milk paint from stores such as www.realmilkpaint.com has been around for thousands of years. The Egyptians used it to decorate their temples. It was also a popular decorative medium in the US for many years: settlers used it to paint furniture, barns – and anything else that needed a coat of paint.
100% Safe
The best reason to use milk paint in a child’s room is that it is 100% safe. Unlike regular solvent-based paint, milk paint contains no volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Painting furniture with solvent-based paint releases harmful VOCs into the air. These nasty chemicals have been linked to respiratory illnesses, so they are definitely not good in a child or baby’s room. Milk paint is eco-friendly and odorless, so you can paint the furniture in the room and not have to worry about dangerous fumes.
Versatile Paint
Milk paint is suitable for use on walls and furniture. It can be used to achieve a variety of different looks. It is a highly versatile medium, which makes it a good choice if you want to paint your child’s bedroom furniture. You can buy milk paint as a powder. To make your paint, mix the powder with water. This allows you to mix as much or as little as you like, which reduces wastage.
Creating a Beautiful Finish
If you want your child’s furniture to have a stylish shabby chic distressed finish, milk paint is a great choice. Milk paint can be used on unfinished wood and you don’t need primer to seal the surface. To achieve a distressed finish or ‘chippy’ look, the wood needs to have some resistance. Milk paint flakes or chips if there is no grip to the surface. This will happen naturally if the surface has already been painted or varnished, but if not, hemp oil or beeswax will create some resistance when applied to any part of the furniture.
To create a distressed finish, apply one coat of milk paint and then rub oil or wax on areas where you would expect some degree of distress, i.e. drawer fronts, edges and corners. Apply a second coat of milk paint in a different color and using fine sand paper or a damp cloth, rub gently at the paint to reveal the underlying coat.
Milk paint is ideal for painting children’s furniture because it is safe and versatile. You can even let older kids have a go at decorating their own cupboards – it will make a great summer project!
Image Credit: 2nd Image from The 36th Avenue, 3rd Image from Real Milk Paint.