Milk Painted Hutch

I found this old hutch on the Facebook Marketplace for $20 a little while ago, and as soon as I saw it, I knew that I wanted to use it in our future home for a linen cabinet. Who doesn’t love a good DIY? As it was listed, one of the doors was warped, so I planned on taking it off and turning it into a doorless piece.

I started off this project by lightly sanding it by hand using 100 grit sandpaper and then going over it lightly with 150 grit sandpaper. I then wiped the dust off with a damp, lint-free cloth and then started the fun part!

I used Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in the colors Linen and Ironstone, mixing together a packet of each color and a bottle of Miss Mustard Seed bonding agent (250 mL). I believe it recommends 2 bottles of the bonding agent, but I only had one and it worked!

The bonding agent helps the paint to stick better. When using milk paint, it naturally chips and kind of has a mind of it’s own…it chips wherever it feels like it. If the piece has any type of sealer on it to start with, the paint will chip off even more. Using the bonding agent helps to limit the chipping. I didn’t want to sand a lot, so I was hoping that the bonding agent would do the trick to keep it from chipping more than I desired. I used a paintbrush and brushed on two coats of the paint mixture. I was scraping the barrel at the end, hoping I would have enough to finish the hutch. I made it, barely! I actually didn’t do two coats on the entire inside because I ran out of paint, but it turned out great!

This is the first time that I have used a bonding agent with milk paint, and it worked really well! It helped to make the paint stick and kept it from excessively chipping off. I love the natural chipping look, but not when it chips off the entire piece.

On this hutch, the paint chipped a lot on the drawers–the bottom left one particularly, and the bottom two sides. It’s perfect! Miss Mustard seed it my favorite brand of milk paint that I’ve found so far. It seems that some others that I’ve tried, the paint has almost completely fallen off the entire piece at times.

I found these amazing glass knobs that are perfect for the drawers! I love them! Of course, Chester loves it too! He’s always up for a project…I mean, a treat.