This Vintage China Cabinet Got a Chippy Makeover Using “Mora” by Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint!
Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint is an incredibly unique paint product. It’s simple in its formulation, and it can randomly resist adhering to surfaces with an existing finish. This products an authentically aged finish that I personally love! I like to reserve this primitive style of paint for pieces that have an aged feel about them. This vintage china cabinet was definitely one of those candidates, and I picked a lovely blue/green color called “Mora” for its makeover.
Prep Work
As you can clearly see, this piece has a few patches of chipped veneer that needed to be addressed. Using a hair dryer and a putty knife, I gently removed all of the loose veneer. If you’d like to see a video of that process, you can watch this Facebook live broadcast to see the process in action.
If you’d like more detail on fixing and repairing damaged wood veneer, check out this super helpful post!
Once the veneer was removed, I grabbed some 150 grit sandpaper and scuff sanded the entire piece. Now when you are doing a scuff sanding, your goal is NOT to completely remove the existing finish. It’s more of a general “scratching up”. Here are some visuals so you can understand what I mean.
Get the idea?
When you scuff sand in this way, you’re bound to miss a spot or two. That’s a GOOD thing because it encourages “the chippy look”!
Getting The Chippy Look
One thing that Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint does extremely well is “the chippy look”. If you’ve never seen it before, here’s what it looks like:
This occurs when paint doesn’t totally stick to the surface. As you distress your piece with sandpaper, patches of paint will fall off, leaving these chippy spots. It’s a very charming look that is best used on pieces that have a very old feel to them.
Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint is totally random when it comes to chipping. When it occurs, where it occurs, and to what extent is unpredictable. That’s one of the fun aspects of using this type of paint product!
Here’s how my vintage china cabinet turned out:
Sealing Chippy Pieces With Tough Coat
When I have a piece that is as chippy as this cabinet is, I opt for Tough Coat as my sealer of choice.
This water-based polyurethane finish does not have a strong shine. It’s ideal for drying hard on the surface and locking in chippy paint finishes. Simply brush it on and allow it to dry.
Now on one side of this cabinet, I got a little too much chipping. To correct it, I used this method along with some Bonding Agent.
The piece is a far cry from where it was when I first started!
Mora by Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint
When it came time to choose a color for this makeover, I landed on a beautiful pale blue/green shade called “Mora“.
It’s named after the town in Sweden made famous for its curvy clocks. Mora is a whisper of a color and is ideal to use if you want SOME color but not a ton. It looks beautiful on just about everything in my opinion! Here are some projects I’ve completed using this color in the past:
Mora pairs well with other neutrals in the Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint line like Farmhouse White, Ironstone, Linen and Marzipan. I personally like the combination of Marzipan and Mora. I used it on my MMSMP display cabinet in my retail space.
It looks so good on this cabinet, which happens to be from the same era.
To pick up on the blue/green in “Mora”, I staged this piece with vintage and antique treasures I found at Morgantown Market.
Those pops of blue and green look right at home, don’t you think?
Shop The Look
If you’d like to recreate this look for yourself at home, here’s a handy shopping list for you! You can purchase all of these items from my online store right here at Eight Hundred Furniture. As of right now, the Post Office is still up and running, so I’m able to get online orders shipped out.
- Mora Milk Paint
- Marzipan Milk Paint
- Tough Coat
- Bonding Agent (to control excess chipping)
- F40 ClingOn! Paintbrush
This cabinet is also for sale! I’ll be listing it soon so if you have your eye on it, let me know.
