Painting a Vintage Cane Chair with MMS Milk Paint & Antiquing Wax

I think the very best bargains can be found when you aren't looking. 
I popped into an op shop I typically drive right past.
I was on the hunt for vintage sheets (check out our upcoming Rag Rug Workshop)
 but I found this round cane chair instead for only $10!
Umm..Yes, please!

BEFORE: Vintage cane chair looking ready for an update with Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint

I have the perfect spot for it in my guest bedroom.
Loving those lines, but not feeling the yellow 1980's varnish!
I've painted a fair amount of cane and wicker 
and have picked up some tricks along the way. 
In fact, I wrote a blog post on it not too long ago: 
Top Five Tips for Painting Wicker.

Wanting to hide the yellow-orange, I started with 
Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in Curio.
Curio is rich shade of walnut brown perfect for creating the look of timber.
It's also fantastic when used as a stain. 
It can sometimes look a bit pale when first painted on, but don't worry. 
It will darken and intensify as it dries and again once when it is sealed.

During: Using MMSMPin Curio to create a rich, deep base and cover the yellow varnish

Because the chair is in good shape and 
the varnish is intact with quite a bit of shine, 
I mixed the MMS Milk Paint on a roughly 1-to-1 ratio 
(one part water, one part paint) 
before adding an equal amount of Bonding Agent.

Painting the cane chair in Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in Curio with Bonding Agent

Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint Bonding Agent

What Bonding Agent does is make Milk Paint adhere to a shiny surface. 
Use it when wanting MMS Milk Paint to stick to  
metal, glass and painted, varnished or lacquered surfaces.
It has no solvents or VOCs and is water clean up.


I really thought, I wanted the chair to be white, 
not a crisp white, but the beautiful grey-blue-green neutral 
that is Miss Mustard Seed's MORA from the European range of colours. 
And really, if you ever want to create a gorgeous layered driftwood finish, 
this colour combination was perfect!

Mora, a gorgeous grey-blue neutral from Miss Mustard Seed's European Range of Milk Paint colours

Painting over the first coat of Milk Paint which was Curio with the second lighter colour, Mora

A beautiful result, layering Mora over Curio for this driftwood effect

Now...the chair is gorgeous just like this.  
A coastal-inspired beauty, right? 
All it really needs is a touch-up here and there for 
the ugly spots that showed themselves and then 
a good topcoat to bring the finish to life.
But when painting for myself I like things
colourful, roughed up, layered, 
distressed, representing a life...well...less perfect!

Once again I reached for my favourite colour--Red-- 
known in the Miss Mustard Seed world as Tricycle.

Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in the gorgeous shade of red, Tricycle

My intent was to go with a solid finish, 
but when I started painting, I fell in love with
the rough washed look and all the layers peeking through.
Bonus? How much easier is this than painting
until I had a solid coat on this twisty-turny cane business?!!


By the way, have you noticed the less-than-fab paint brush in the photos?
I'm a big fan of quality paint brushes when using
milk, chalk, clay and mineral based paints. 
They make a big difference in the finished product.
However, this does NOT apply when painting cane.
Use a natural bristle brush to hold the paint,
but a low-quality brush so you can shove it, drag it
and push it between the cane for better coverage.
See the blog post I mentioned earlier for more tips.

Adding another layer of paint, the third, to the vintage cane chair

Smiling again, neither the chair nor I knew in the beginning she was meant to be red!

I was loving this whimsical result. 
When in doubt...go RED! 
I needed to knock back some of the brightness so
out came the Miss Mustard Seed's Antiquing Wax.
I used the Wax straight onto the paint to 
dirty the colour and basically add another layer of "distressing." 
It this case it deepend all three colours popping through 
(Curio, Mora and Tricycle)  and enriched them to 
make them look a wee bit...well, older!

Adding Miss Mustard Seed's Antiquing Wax to beautifully age and intensify the layers of paint

Miss Mustard Seed's Antiquing Wax is museum-grade with no odour, no stickiness & no nasties

In a day or two I'll add a final coat of 
MMSMP clear Furniture Wax
for another layer of protection.
And then she'll hopefully enjoy her new surroundings
while waiting for more lovely guests to turn up and admire her!

All finished and hopefully loving her new home

Three layers of Milk Paint love onto this vintage cane chair

Thanks so much for coming along, 
please ask any questions via email or leave comments below.

It's all here...for the love...
Sada