Empire Dresser in Farmstead

Im skipping ahead to this recent empire dresser we did for our master bedroom, simply because I have found a new love for milk paint. I used to dread using milk paint just because of the complexity and uncontrollability. But I’ll be the first to admit that I thought ALL milk paints were the same. Boy was I wrong. Just like the different styles and types of chalk, mineral, acrylic, hybrids, etc., each milk paint formula is different. The milk paint I used for this project was a new and up & coming brand called Old Barn Milk Paint.

This post contains affiliate links.

Old Barn Milk Paint

OBMP comes in a typical powder form as most milk paints do. What I love about OBMP is the organic nature and production of the products! All OBMP’s products are all natural, non-toxic and odor free, which means for you northerners and snow receivers, you can paint indoors year round without worrying about stinky chemicals. This paint is definitely catering to the chemically sensitive painter! The color selection is beautiful and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t hard to choose a color! I spent about 2o minutes deciding what color to pick for this dresser and I finally settled on Farmstead.

The Look

Since our house is mainly painted and decorated in naturals, I decided we needed to bring some color into our bedroom. But I didn’t want to go overboard and pick something I would get tired of quickly. I love blues and greens, so this color seemed like the perfect compromise. Now, don’t let this dresser fool you…this thing weighs close to 70-80 pounds. You should have seen me trying to unload this into my garage by myself. The drawers literally fell apart into pieces, and the frame was so heavy alone, I had to move it an inch at a time. Forget trying to put this thing on dolly movers because our garage is on an uphill and it would have rolled right into the street. It is massive. I had to wait until Jake got home from deployment for him to help me put this back together and get it to the paint area.

After some minor veneer repairs and a super light sanding, it was ready for some milk paint.

We definitely wanted to go for a rustic look. The distressing on this piece was all due to the milk paint formula. It even let the original tiger oak wood grain show through and it sanded very smoothly!

We added these bronze cup pulls from Hobby Lobby that I literally want to put on EVERYTHING!

The coverage on the paint was amazing! This only took two coats for full coverage. After sanding with my orbital sander, I sealed with two coats of General Finishes HPTC in Satin and went over the final coats with Fusion’s Beeswax for a smooth finish.

We gave the top two coats of Rustoleum’s Dark Walnut Stain. This is a great example of how stain is never the same on different types of wood. On oak, dark walnut stain appears to be a warmer stain with orange and red undertones. On pine, it appears as a darker more brown/black stain.

I thought since I was taking a leap anyway, why not pair it with this cute arrow liner that matches perfectly with the sea glass color of this paint! I love when you open up a drawer and find something fun on the inside!

If you love the look of this dresser, I highly suggest heading over to Old Barn Milk Paint to order a sample kit to test out for yourself. The website has a great selection of top coats, kits, and accessories to choose from! This paint was so easy to use that it you’ll probably end up painting everything in milk paint!