Refinishing Chairs

I finally refinished my dinning room chair…and I do mean only one chair. I have three more yet to go. I am super proud of the way they turned out considering it was my first refinishing project, so I couldn't wait to share.

First I stripped the five layers of paint off. More details here.

I used Miss Mustard Seed (MMS) Milk Paint in Luckett's Green. I LOVE this paint. It is super easy to work with. It is milk paint, so it requires you to mix it with water (I used warm distilled). It is very different from other paints; it is watery and a little lumpy. I found that you really need to mix it well. It is recommended to mix for five minutes and it really needs it. By the end of my first coat the paint was looking more yellow than green because I had not mixed all the pigments well. I didn't worry about it too much because it was only the first coat.

Mixes:

1st coat: 2 tbsp of Luckett's Green; 2.5 tbsp of water; 2 tbsp of bonding agent (I did not want the paint to peel or chip which is what milk paint is known for, so I used the bonding agent that prevents this effect from occurring.) Also FYI, when using the bonding agent there is a 24 hour wait time between coats.

2nd coat: 3 tbsp of Luckett's Green; 3 tbsp of water

My father in law helped me make the seats and cushions. I covered them in a linen colored material. However I am seriously considering digging out the original seats (wood) and staining them the same color as my table top. What do you think?

MMS milk paint is natural so it can be used in doors. However I will say that I was a little surprised by the smell of it when I was mixing the paint. It smelled kind of chemically for being a "natural paint." I did not smell anything though once I started to actually paint. The smell seems to wear off fairly quickly. I love how this paint picks up and shows off the different color pigments. The paint is not just a solid green; there are places where there are more yellow or blue tones, and I love the look.