To Chip or Not to Chip.. that is the question.

Beautifully worn but wonderful. When this table arrived at the shop, it was in desperate need of not only TLC, but glue and clamps. It  was a sturdy piece, the legs just had cracks in the knobs caused by years of use. We first glued the cracks and clamped them. We decided not to fill in the cracks on the outside of the leg, that would take away the character. We just did enough to make it durable and ready for many more years. 

We chose to do the legs and top in two different colors. The legs are Miss Mustard Seed Linen and the top is Kitchen Scale. Now to decide if we want to let the paint do it's thing and chip and flake, or add the bonding agent and have it adhere like the legs. 

 I really didn't want it to chip heavily, so I added a little of the bonder. And gave it a light coat. Then added the next coat with out it. Within a minute it started to chip and flake in small areas. When it was dry, I went over the whole table lightly with a putty knife to remove any loose paint. Because of the light coat first the bonding agent held it tightly in most areas. That was exactly the amount of distressing I had hoped to achieve. The funny thing is that when the Milk Paint decides to distress - you have not control over it. The paint will just resist the finish in areas and chip right off. 

Being somewhat of a control freak, I didn't want huge chips on the top of the table. A little chippy Farm look is good, the well worn look is good but the huge hunks of missing paint look is not my thing. Add the bonding agent and its guaranteed not to do that. 

 Now that the paint is dry, I'm going to go over the entire table with Miss Mustard Seeds wax. We have tried so many different waxes and this is by far the best. Her products are all natural and have no odors. The wax just glides on the paint and is absorbed immediately. Wait just a few minutes and wipe it off. You can't even feel that it was ever on the surface - no slimmy feeling, no dull spots exactly what she promises. I usually give my projects two to three coats. If you like a soft patina looking finish, that's the look you'll get. If a shine is what you're looking for it won't happen with this wax.  A lot of the time, depending on what type of piece it will be used on, I use a quick coat of satin or semi gloss varithane. This will give you a soft shine and it's durable.

Hopefully, the table gets finished up today. I'd like to do a set of chairs in the Linen to go with it. Nancy is on the lookout for the kind I want.  

Have a good day & bundle up if you're going out - winds are nasty today.
Patti