Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint

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Vintage Record Cabinet In Sunkissed MilkPaint™

April’s Color of the Month: Sunkissed

If you are brand new to MilkPaint™, this one's for you! Seeing the progress of this project will help you conquer your first furniture painting project with confidence!

This spring break, we took a family trip to Texas to get some sun and sand, and on our way home, we stopped in a few towns to shop for antique or vintage furniture. There were lots of beautiful pieces, and I brought a few home with me! This Lane vinyl record cabinet was purchased in Kerrville, Texas, brought back to Colorado, painted in Sunkissed, and is now ready for its next home! It is now available for purchase here.

Love the look of this cheerful cabinet? Today we’ll walk through the steps needed to replicate this look using Miss Mustard Seed’s® MilkPaint™ in the color Sunkissed.

Materials Needed:

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Prepping To Paint

As with every painting project, cleaning is a vital step in prepping well!  For years, Krud Kutter has been my go-to product for this, as it does a great job of cutting grease and removing grime! After cleaning with Krud Kutter, be sure to rinse well with water to remove any residual chemicals. I like to use blue shop towels when cleaning as they don’t leave behind the lint you’ll find when cleaning with traditional paper towels.

Mixing Miss Mustard Seed’s® MilkPaint™

Miss Mustard Seed’s® MilkPaint™ comes in a powder form making it easy to store and helping to preserve the product. (How many times have you opened a pre-mixed paint can, used just a couple of times, only to find rust infiltrating your product? That won’t happen here!) Simply measure out how much paint you’ll need, mix with water in a 1:1 ratio and add a few drops of MilkMix-EZ™. For this cabinet, I used one cup of Sunkissed, 1 cup of water, four drops of MilkMix-EZ™, and a small whisk to stir. Stir well, let sit for about 10 mins, stir again, and you should be good to go!

Start Small

Once your furniture piece is cleaned, rinsed, and dried, it’s time to paint! To apply MMSMP, I use an inexpensive chip brush. When learning to paint furniture, I always suggest starting small. A simple end table is a great place to start! You will learn so much on your first project, and starting with a big hutch will likely leave you feeling overwhelmed. Start small, stick with it, and I assure you you will grow into tackling bigger projects with confidence! With a wide variety of Miss Mustard Seed’s® colors to choose from, you can’t go wrong. Today we’ll be using Sunkissed!

Work With The Grain

When applying Sunkissed to the record cabinet, you can see here I painted in the same direction as the wood grain. When starting on any project, take a minute to look at how the piece was originally constructed. Observe where the grain is running horizontally and where it’s running vertically, and then follow suit as you begin to paint.

First Coat, Worst Coat

Inevitably, there will be a point in your project where you think, “Oh, no.” Likely, this will come after you’ve painted your first coat! I always say, “First coat, worst coat!” As you can see here, the first coat can be quite unsightly. It can leave you wondering if you’ve ruined your piece of furniture, if you should strip it back down to its original finish, or just put it on the curb with a FREE sign. Instead, stick with it and KEEP GOING!! I promise it will get better.

When the first coat is complete, allow about an hour or so to dry. I live at 8,000ft in the Rockies, and we have little to no humidity here. If you live in a humid climate, it may take longer, but either way MMSMP dries relatively quickly.

Applying The Second Coat

Once dry, go ahead and apply the second coat in the same way you applied the first. There’s no “messing up” milk paint! It’s organic in nature, leans itself towards chipping and distressing, and is quite forgiving. Have fun and enjoy the process!

Chipping MilkPaint™

As the second coat is drying, I start watching for chipping. While painting this cabinet with Sunkissed, I was hoping it would chip, and it did! You can see the paint beginning to lift away here. This is exactly what I was hoping for!

Distressing MilkPaint™

I waited an hour for the second coat of Sunkissed to be fully dried and then grabbed 180 grit sandpaper to further distress the paint. I went over the entire cabinet, paying close attention to where the paint was already chipping and applying extra pressure to any edges where I wanted to force distressing.

Once sanded, this cabinet was buttery smooth. I grabbed my trusty shop vac and dusting attachment to vacuum any loose dust (there was quite a bit) and then wiped the piece down with a dry shop towel to pick up any remaining paint particles that the shop vac left behind.

Applying MilkWax™

Next up is applying wax to seal the paint and help protect your furniture. I decided to use MilkWax™ Clear for this cabinet. I wanted the beautiful yellow of Sunkissed to shine and was not looking to add any aging or antiquing to this paint color. MilkWax™ Clear deepened the yellow and accentuated the contrast between the yellow paint and dark wood tones of this cabinet.

The Final Look

Looking to add a bit of cheer to your home? This cabinet is now available for purchase and can be shipped nationwide! Of course, it would work perfectly for storing vinyl records, but it can also be used for craft items like yarn, books or magazines, or even for storing shoes!

Video Tutorial

Want to see this process in action? Catch my tutorial video below!


Spring is here! Usher in an extra dose of sunshine by using Sunkissed to revitalize a piece of furniture in your home. Be sure to share your projects on social media and tag Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint when you do. We love seeing your projects and creativity!

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