Transforming An Old Rocking Chair

 I know it's been a while since I posted, but we 

have been having some technical difficulties with our computer, so I apologize. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Our holiday was wonderful and we enjoyed spending the day together. We woke up to this beautiful scene in our yard...

 

It was a really heavy snow and we actually lost power for about 10 minutes while the turkey was in the oven. Luckily, we were part of the lucky group that got our power restored quickly and we were able to continue preparing the Thanksgiving feast without any incident. From the stories we've heard however, others were not so lucky and they were not able to prepare their holiday dinner. I guess we can just add our restored power to our long list of things to be thankful for this year!

Today I want to share a recent project I completed. This is an old rocking chair that we purchased many years ago from the people who owned our home before us. It is a heavy and very sturdy rocker, but as you can see, it was quite scratched and had certainly seen better days...

 It also had a lot of gold paint that I was not fond of...

 

So, this was the perfect opportunity to try out another color from the Miss Mustard Seed milk paint line. Since I wasn't sure which room we would ultimately use this rocker in (it's had many homes throughout our house over the years), I decided to stick with a neutral color that would work in various settings. Trophy was the winner for this project. It is the deep gray in this milk paint line, and I have been looking for the perfect piece to try it on.

When using milk paint, it is often easy to get concerned after your first coat of paint. This product is not like latex paint, and the coverage is very different from other paints you may have worked with. There is sometimes an "ugly phase" to the project, and I've learned not to panic or get too upset with this phase...

   I just take a deep breath and wait for the first coat of paint to dry. Luckily milk paint dries rather quickly, as I usually can't wait to get the next coat of paint on to prove to myself (and my family) that it really was a good idea to paint another old piece of furniture.

 Patience and a little faith really pay off however...

After the second coat of paint, I finished it with a coat of hemp oil, which really enhanced the color. The waxes in the Miss Mustard Seed line are great to work with, but I have to admit that I really love working with the hemp oil.

I  think it looks like a completely different piece of furniture don't you? This might be one of the  more dramatic "before vs after" projects I've done yet.

 

Linking with:

Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Friday 
Beyond The Picket Fence Vintage Inspiration Party
MMM Milkpaint Masterpiece Monday......