Since I know how much you all love painting projects, I thought I would walk you through the latest decorative paint method that I have tried. It’s got quite a few steps to it, but none of them are difficult. This is Toscana Milk paint.
I plan on painting a large piece of furniture in our bedroom using this milk paint (using different colors) and thought I would show you step-by-step examples on a smaller piece.
Here is my before piece:

First, I painted the fabulous One-Step Paint in Ballet white as the base color. I chose the light color so that when I distressed the top layer of paint, this would show through.
The next step is to mix up the Legno Gesso. When working with a smooth surface, you need to prepare the surface to accept the milk paint. You can sand down the piece so that the milk paint can grab on, but who wants to do that This is a furniture gesso and it acts as a surface that the milk paint can adhere to. Mix equal parts gesso and warm water and paint on in a random, messy fashion.

Can you see the lines? It is a rough surface with lots of texture. This will give the milk paint lots of crevices to fill in.
Next comes, the Toscana milk paint. I chose Noir, a dark charcoal grey. This is also mixed equal parts of water and milk paint powder. This paint dries to the exact color as the powder. This makes it so easy to choose the paint colors you want!

See ? Look at that milky paint goodness!

This step is so much fun! This is the antiquing glaze phase–yes, I just came up with that on my own…
The antiquing glaze softens the paint so that you can rub away the top layer where you want some distressing. So instead of sanding and scraping, you can rub away the top layer with a cloth, easy peasy.
This picture shows one of the sconces waxed with dark wax and the other unwaxed. See how it darkens the paint and makes the distressing pop?
Nice.
These two beauties are now hanging on either side of the TV in the bedroom. I think they really pop against the light walls and add just enough detail

First, I painted the fabulous One-Step Paint in Ballet white as the base color. I chose the light color so that when I distressed the top layer of paint, this would show through.
Next comes, the Toscana milk paint. I chose Noir, a dark charcoal grey. This is also mixed equal parts of water and milk paint powder. This paint dries to the exact color as the powder. This makes it so easy to choose the paint colors you want!
See ? Look at that milky paint goodness!
This step is so much fun! This is the antiquing glaze phase–yes, I just came up with that on my own…
The antiquing glaze softens the paint so that you can rub away the top layer where you want some distressing. So instead of sanding and scraping, you can rub away the top layer with a cloth, easy peasy.
Nice.
These two beauties are now hanging on either side of the TV in the bedroom. I think they really pop against the light walls and add just enough detail
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