Distressed Milk Paint Dresser

The pollen count around here has been pretty bad - achoo! But the temperatures have been perfect for painting. Today I have a distressed milk paint dresser to share. If you've been here before, you know that I write "lightly distressed" in something like 99% of my furniture posts, but not today.

Here's her before shot. The top was really rough, but otherwise she was in pretty good shape for her age. 

And the top drawer is very cool. First of all, it is all solid wood that is thick and very heavy.

It has a nifty little button on the inside. Just push it  .....

and the drawer front drops down and she becomes a desk.

I haven't figured out the purpose of the holes inside the drawer, one in each back corner.

And the underside of the drawer has an interesting design cut into it too.

I thought she was a good candidate for Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint and this time I decided to go wild and crazy and skip the bonding agent. This allows the paint to self-distress and chip randomly. And to be quite honest, that freaks me out a bit!

Here's a milk paint dresser I did a few weeks ago with the bonding agent. The paint adhered well and I did my usual light distressing. The color here is Kitchen Scale - really pretty!

This color is a mix of Lucketts Green and Flow Blue. I shook it up in a jar. I think it helps to mix, let it sit for a few minutes, then mix again. But I do find it hard to keep the paint mixed. Little color pigments seem to settle out pretty quickly and that makes it difficult to maintain a consistent color.

There was some random chipping, but not all that much. I'd seen a few bloggers write about pieces where pretty much all the paint flaked off. I certainly didn't want that to happen, but I was expecting a little more.

 So after lightly distressing the edges as I normally do, I decided to go over the drawers with the electric sander and give them a more heavily distressed look. And I know for some of you, this probably wouldn't even be considered heavy distressing, but it is for me.

Of course she looks better without the bright glare. But we were rushing off to get her delivered to Main Street and it was a really sunny afternoon.

Believe it or not, I've painted everything in my garage and needed to go pick up more furniture!

The wooden knobs suited the rustic style of the piece so no need to change them.

And I think her legs are especially cute!

I finished up with a coat of clear wax and she feels silky smooth!

It was fun to experiment and I think the heavily distressed look suits older pieces. But I'm pretty sure my next furniture post will once again contain the words "lightly distressed"!

So what's your comfort level when it comes to distressing?

I'm sharing with ...

Embracing Change
My Repurposed Life
504 Main
Miss Mustard Seed
The Shabby Nest
Simply Designing
Craftberry Bush

 Funky Junk Interiors
Three Mango Seeds
DIY Home Sweet Home
Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint