Milk Paint by Fusion - A Washstand Makeover

If you’ve ever wondered how to get an authentically vintage finish with paint, this is the tutorial for you! For this project we use Milk Paint by Fusion to give a worn washstand a fresh makeover while staying true to its vintage roots.

unfinished wood wash stand with white knob on drawer in front of white shiplap wall — Before

What is Milk Paint?

Milk paint is a water-based paint that comes in powder form. One of the main ingredients of milk paint is, not surprisingly, milk protein.

hands holding open bag of yellow milk paint powder — Milk Paint by Fusion – “Mod Mustard”

However, the truly fun thing about milk paint is that it is so incredibly customizable! The way you mix the paint, the sealer you use, and even the prep you do on your piece can change the outcome of your finished product. I don’t mean that in an overwhelming way… it’s truly not overwhelming. You just need to know a few basics and you’re good to go. Let’s go over those basics and then we’ll dive into this transformation. Once you know how this this paint works, the sky’s the limit as to what you can achieve.

Do I Need Any Special Prep to Use Milk Paint?

Yes. And also no. Whenever you’re refinishing a piece of furniture, you’re going to want to make sure your furniture is decently clean. For instance, this little washstand I painted was filthy. So, I started my project by wiping it down with mild soapy water and towels. I got rid of the dirt, dust, and of course all of the spiderwebs and spider nests that were lurking underneath.

hand cleaning unfinished washstand using a blue shop towel — Cleaning

For this particular piece, I wanted to maintain that true vintage/antique look of a piece that had been used and loved for decades. So, I wasn’t wanting a smooth and perfectly clean looking finish. You can achieve that with milk paint but obviously that wouldn’t be true to the style I was aiming for. So, once my washstand was dirt free, I was ready to paint. That was literally the ONLY prep I needed to do! How easy is that? Now, if you wanted to paint, say, a midcentury modern dresser with clean lines and a completely smooth finish… that would require starting with a smooth surface. In that instance, you’d want to sand down/fill in any imperfections before you start.

How to Mix Milk Paint

Mixing milk paint is easier than mixing together a batch of pancakes! All you do is add one part paint to one part warm water and mix, mix, mix. It’s seriously that easy. Mix only what you know you’ll use and leave the rest of the powder in the bag for next time. Even better, this is the part where you can really start to customize your milk paint. Want a thicker, more chunky, plaster type look and feel? Go ahead and mix in more powder.

hands holding whisk and cup of yellow milk paint in front of unfinished wash stand and white shiplap wall — Mixing Milk Paint

Want something thinner? More like a wash or stain? No problem! Just use more water in your mixture. You can really just have fun and play around with the paint.

One thing to add here, if you’re painting a piece with a glossy finish, the paint will almost definitely chip as it dries. We LOVE this look. But if that isn’t the look you’re hoping for, just add a bonding agent to your mixture.

open bag of yellow milk pain sitting beside a paint brush with yellow paint on top of a cup of yellow paint in front of a white shiplap wall

Painting the Washstand

For our little washstand, we chose the color Mod Mustard. We happened to have it on hand and I had been dying to use it but I wasn’t quite ready to commit to painting something large in that bold of a yellow. I thought this washstand would be perfect though and I love how it brightened the piece up! I painted the first coat on the washstand and then waited for it to fully dry. In the case of Fusion Milk Paint, that’s usually only about thirty minutes. Which is completely crazy to me. But, after using it for a while, you’ll find it’s truly the fastest drying paint to work with.

hand using paint brush to paint bottom of washstand yellow in front of white shiplap wall

At this point, I gave the piece a second coat. For this color, two coats gave me all the coverage I needed and I was really happy with how it was looking.

hand using paint brush to paint front of washstand yellow in front of white shiplap wall

The finish on the washstand was very dry and cracked to start with. So, when I went over it with the milk paint, I knew beforehand that the wood would drink up the paint and also that the cracking would show though on my finished product. That is exactly what I wanted.

Sanding and Distressing

We really wanted to play up the cool alligator effect that naturally happened on this piece. So, as Ethan used the sander to go over the flat surfaces of this stand, he made sure not to push too hard or sand too long. We didn’t want to ruin the vintage look of the alligator crackling. Then, to finish up and give it more of an aged look, we hand distress the edges with a 220 grit piece of sandpaper. And that was all this washstand needed to bring it back to its glory days without sacrificing on the history of years of use.

person holding orbital sander on yellow painted washstand distressing in front of white drop cloth curtain — Distressing

How to Seal Milk Paint

How you seal milk paint really depends on personal preference. Here are some of the options you could use…

Hemp Oil – Hemp oil really brings out the natural beauty of milk paint. It’s easy to work with and all natural! Hemp oil works best if you’re sealing a piece that isn’t chipping.

Furniture Wax – There’s just something about the way a perfectly buffed wax feels on a piece of furniture. I’m obsessed with furniture wax and it’s tough to beat for ease of application and overall performance in my opinion. However, it’s not going to completely stop a heavily chipping piece. So, I would suggest using this option on a non-chipping or lightly chipping piece.

Top Coat – Fusion makes a really nice top coat call tough coat wipe on poly. It’s simple to use and you just wipe it on with a damp cloth, sponge, or brush and let dry. We’ve found that this is the best option if you have an extremely chippy piece and you want to make sure you preserve that chippy look without the furniture continuing to chip in the future. It basically seals everything up and freezes the piece in the state of “chippiness” it was in when you sealed it.

So, to answer the question we’ve all been waiting for… what did we use to seal our sweet little mustard colored washstand? Furniture wax! This little cutie wasn’t at all chippy but it did have a lot of little grooves and cracks in the finish. So, wax was a perfect finish to use to kind of glide over those cracks and fill them in. In reality, we could have used any of the three finishes I mentioned. I just personally liked the idea of using wax, so I did! Miss Mustard Seed makes a really nice wax that we really love and it comes in a heavenly lavender scent as well as unscented.

hands holding roll of blue shop towels and white container of furniture wax — Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Wax

We finished this project up by replacing the old beat-up drawer knob with a brand new vintage reproduction glass knob from D Lawless Hardware. I truly love the way this washstand turned out! It’s the perfect blend of vintage and new.

clear glass knob on drawer of yellow painted washstand in front of white shiplap wall — Vintage Style Glass Knob

Have you ever tried milk paint? We’d love to hear about your experiences! And as always… you can watch the full transformation of this project below. Happy furniture flipping my friends!

Products Used:

Shop Towels
Soap & water or TSP product
Country Chic paint brush
Milk Paint by Fusion – “Mod Mustard” – https://us.fusionmilkpaint.com/
Orbital or other sander
150 grit sanding pads; 220 grit sandpaper
Miss Mustard Seed furniture wax – https://www.mmsmilkpaint.com/finishes
Vintage style glass knob – https://www.dlawlesshardware.com/decagon-clear-glass-knob.html