A VanSciver hutch dry brushed with lamp black milk paint by general finishes
Yesterday, I finished my latest furniture project – a slender VanSciver hutch! This piece was in pretty great condition when it came to me.
I wanted to update this piece and give it a more sophisticated look without completely painting over all of the lovely wood details. The hutch had some ring marks on the bottom from drinks that needed to be addressed.
This piece was a perfect candidate for a technique called “dry brushing”!
Dry brushing general finishes milk paint
Dry brushing is essentially using very little paint on your brush, and working it across a very large area. You use so little paint that when you’re done, your brush still feels dry, hence the name DRY brushing!
I used several of my ClingOn! brushes in various sizes to work small amounts of General Finishes Lamp Black Milk Paint across the surface.
As I dry brushed, I wiped away excess paint from the edges and high points of my piece to reveal the wood underneath.
This technique allowed me to give this piece a more uniform color without completely covering the wood.
When all was said and done, I probably used less than 1/4 cup of paint total.
To seal the piece and give it some shine, I applied one coat of General Finishes High Performance Topcoat in Satin to the body, and two on the bottom.
Those drink marks are long gone now! On the bottom, I applied the Lamp Black Milk Paint like normal instead of dry brushing. It took two coats to cover everything over. To ensure that part would be protected in the future, I applied two coats of HP Topcoat instead of one.
Features of the vansciver hutch
This piece has so many lovely features to draw your attention to. Let’s work our way down from the top. You’ve already seen the pretty wheat stalks on the top, but let’s see them again!
The doors have lovely original glass divided up into six panes. The original key to the piece is included too!
The drawer underneath is clean inside and has the VanSciver plaque nailed to the side. Two original lion’s head drawer pulls stand watch on either end.
I shined them up with a small amount of metallic wax. In the photo below, you can get an up close look at that gatored texture I’ve been mentioning.
The legs on this piece are slender and carved. I took my time rubbing away the edges along these surfaces to draw your eye to their gorgeous details.
The staging on this piece was simple – a pair of matching cotton wreaths on the doors. I attached them with some 3M command hooks.
Want to replicate this look on a piece of your own? Here are the products I used. You can pick them up in person at Homestead Studios, or purchase them online from me!
- General Finishes Lamp Black Milk Paint
- General Finishes High Performance Topcoat in Satin
- ClingOn! Brushes
