You’ve scoured dozens of thrift stores, explored twice that many garage sales and stalked Facebook Marketplace listings looking for that perfect shabby chic piece of furniture to add to your country home decor. Now that you’ve nabbed a pair of Shaker-style end tables, a solid wood colonial coffee table or a French country dresser to upcycle to match your space, you’re probably looking for great ideas on how to paint furniture farmhouse style. Fortunately, the Real Milk Paint Co. can help with every aspect of the process when you want to create an absolutely gorgeous farmhouse-style furniture piece that’s uniquely suited to you.
Distressing Furniture With Real Milk Paint Co. Products
From start to finish, the Real Milk Paint Co. has all-natural products to help you achieve a beautiful and environmentally friendly farmhouse finish when you’re painting furniture for a shabby chic look. For example, our Tri-Sodium Phosphate Cleaner removes all the grime from old furniture pieces and bare wood alike without leaving a residue, while our Oxalic Acid Wood Bleach helps you fix cosmetic issues caused by the exposure of wood to iron. From there, our Real Milk Paint hues add the farmhouse-style paint color you want, and our range of wood waxes, creams and finishing oils helps protect your finished project.
How to Paint Furniture Farmhouse Style
When you want to distress furniture, the first step is developing a color and style scheme for the piece that complements your entire room. For instance, if you want to add a French country nightstand to your master bedroom furniture and have a palette with deeper shades of gray, you might pick light gray Real Milk Paint colors like Stoneware or Riverstone that enhance the overarching neutral room design. While many people use regular paint or chalk paint, milk paints like Real Milk Paint confer advantages like a dead flat finish that perfectly complements farmhouse-style furnishings and the capacity for easy distressing. Additionally, our colors endure time and use for beautiful furniture you can pass on as a family heirloom.
Gathering Supplies to Paint Your Piece of Furniture
To begin your distressed furniture project, you first need to gather all the supplies you require in one place for easy access. These supplies include:
- A tarp to protect flooring
- Trisodium phosphate cleaner
- Real Milk Paint colors
- Mixing containers
- Paintbrushes
- Clean rags
- Fine grit sandpaper or sanding blocks
- Effects mediums
- Finishing wax, cream, glaze or oil
Preparing Furniture Pieces for Painting
Clear out a space to lay down a tarp, and bring in all your supplies to complete your prep work. First, remove all the hardware from your furniture piece for cleaning, making sure to check the screw and nail holes for signs of degradation. Next, use a clean rag to wipe down the entire piece with trisodium phosphate to remove all the grime. Allow it to dry completely. If you noted any spots during cleaning that need some extra help, use our Wood Filler to even out worn spots, fill in divots, and repair potentially stripped screw holes. Next, use the fine grit sandpaper or sanding blocks to sand down the surface, and clean the furniture piece again with trisodium phosphate to remove the sawdust and residue in preparation for coverage with Real Milk Paint. We don’t recommend the use of color-changing wood fillers prior to painting with Real Milk Paint as they can at times revert back to their pink/purple color once the milk paint is applied over top.
Creating Distressed Furniture Effects
Mix your Real Milk Paint color, usually at a 1:1 ratio with water, and add one coat of paint to your piece. Let it dry before adding a second coat and letting it dry completely. Once you get the level of color you want, you’re ready to add distressed furniture effects for farmhouse style. One way to do this is to add our Natural Crackle Finish over the painted furniture — one coat delivers small cracks, while two coats create larger ones. For more controlled distressing, use our Chippy Paste between paint layers and rub the spot with a stiff cloth or scrubby pad to achieve the effect you like. You can also simply sand flat or use a damp rag on areas strategically to create a patina of age on furniture painted with Real Milk Paint.
Sealing Painted Furniture After Distressing
Sealing painted furniture can also add a distressed effect when you use the right finishing creams, glazes and oils. For instance, you might add a mocha or mahogany Finishing Glaze around drawer handles or the edges on pieces covered in light gray milk paint or even white chalk paint. Our clear and colored Soft Wax products also help you achieve a similar effect over light brown or white paint by adding just the right amount around the edges of painted furniture like coffee tables or an end table set.
No matter how you distress furniture, though, the Real Milk Paint Co. simplifies the process of painting furniture in farmhouse style with high-quality products that are good for the environment. Contact us via this form or by calling (800) 339-9748 to discover the best options when you want to paint furniture in farmhouse style.
