A sure fire way to lighten up a space is to paint any existing furniture that's dark, a light colour! It’s always an incredible change.

Hotel Robe Milk Paint by Fusion

This bench was the perfect candidate!   For this project we went with “Hotel Robe” Fusion Milk Paint, our brightest white in the milk paint by Fusion range. 

How to mix Milk Paint 

This 2 minute video explains how to mix Milk Paint by Fusion.

1 Part water to 1 part Milk Paint powder.  Give it a little whisk for a minute. It’s always important to continuously stir as the pigments are heavy and will settle to the bottom, and hint- the pigments that settle are what gives you the paint coverage! The water stays at the top- so mix it up!

With lighter colours your first coat will be slightly transparent. You will most likely need 3-4 coats to get full opaque coverage. If you want to cheat you could always add a higher ratio of powder, however you don’t want to thicken your milk paint too much because it could drag when painting with it creating texture, brush strokes and could also crack when it dries- alternatively if you want those looks, then thicken that baby up!

Your milk paint should have a table cream consistency. 

Milk Paint on raw wood 

Bare wood surfaces need no prep, no primer. Simply clean off any dust or dirt and paint! The milk paint is going to soak in and just hold onto those wood fibres - never to chip or peel! That’s right, on porous surfaces you will never get peeling, chipping or flaking as the milk paint literally soaks into the wood fibres and cements theirselves. If you have a previously painted surface, or finished piece, some prep may be necessary. Refer to our Prep Guide here. 

Prep for this piece was just making sure it was dust free, and then painted with our Staalmeester natural bristle brush 

This took 3 coats for full coverage. Each coat takes about 20-30 minutes to dry, then you can re-coat as desired. It didn't take long as the first 2 coats soaked into the wood really quickly, aprx 20 minutes.

Milk Paint requires a top coat, we decided to go with the Stain and Finishing Oil in White, whilst we wouldn’t typically recommend a Oil Based top coat over top of white (because oils typically yellow slightly) we were going for a bit of a rustic look, and the white pigment in the Stain and Finishing Oil should prevent too much yellowing. 

Check out more top coat options here ( link to top coats blog) 

Voila! this stunning bench really stands out now and is super durable to stand up to the wear and tear its’ going to see!

A perfect entry way welcoming bench 

The possibilities are truly endless, just let your inspiration guide you. Join us on social @milkpaintbyfusion