Monday, April 6, 2009

(Milk) Paint The Town Red

I have yet to set up my room, you know like officially with decor and a bed (I am sleeping on a pad on the floor still). But I know ya'll wanted to see this rockin' milk paint on the walls and hear all about it, so please excuse the half assed nature of my bedroom. I absolutely love Milk Paint, I love it to pieces, I love it to death, I want to marry it and give it kisses... but that would get weird since it's not supposed to get too wet! Look though, I bought the Barn Red Milk Paint from the Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co. and my good friend mixed it up and painted the room for me. He said it gets clumpy and mixing it wasn't so easy without an extremely powerful drill to put the paint stick on. However, the end result rocks my world.As you can see in the picture above the earth pigmented color is actually very bold and the paint leaves a certain amount of artistic texture - the amount of layers you put on would most likely change this, and possibly the amount of water added could change this also.
The room had previously been an "art" room and had spray paint graffiti, paint splotches and various other stuff on the wall to be painted over - milk paint will go over it, but it doesn't cover it up like the toxic acrylic paint does. It also may cause the paint to run some in those areas- adding various textures to the wall. Personally I love the character it gives, being I am from a generation & culture full of graffiti art. This last pic is a close up of the textures it gives. I want to note that the most brilliant feature of this paint is that it is totally non toxic, it has no VOC's, I came into this room the very next day and had no reaction (which is a miracle), the smell of it was a weird earthy smell (my friend called it a "circus tent" smell) which dissipated within a few days. The paint itself is only three organic ingredients: powdered milk protein, lime and earth pigment! I am going to say the best way to learn about this paint is to go read the testimonials on the website because people give great advice on how to achieve certain finishes and textures and tips on mixing - plus one guy told a crazy story about how his blue milk paint fell into his fish tank and he didn't even clean it up, but not one fish died and the water cleared itself up! I mean, the real question is... Is it all worth the effort to mix and play? YES! Totally. I give 5 stars, two thumbs up and highly recommend it to the chemically sensitive and the artistically inclined.

XOXO

4 comments:

  1. Nice. I want to try that, and see more pictures of the new place!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the color! The texture also looks nice, it gives it more personality. Are you painting the ceiling the same color, or a different one?

    There is always trouble on parrot sites whenever people want to paint (and everybody seems to want to do that every 6 months) as the paint can, and often does, kill parrots. Whether it is the first or second time you paint depends on that particular parrot's immune system.
    Anyway, people often try to recommend they not only remove their parrot for a few weeks, but use low or no VOC paints. I recently saw someone mention Milk Paint, though! And they said the company (same one you link to) not only has great customer service, but the person that answers the phone is a parrot enthusiast. Very cool! I hope she rescues!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Colleen! Tell me if ya try it! I am totally taking more pics of the barn house once i get my stuff organized, cause it's so cool!

    Meg- The Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co. does have really good customer service, they answered all my MCS questions very well, they explained thoroughly the (barely) difference between their orginal milk paint and their safepaint/milk paint, and made the order easy. It also came in the mail exactly on time. This room used a one gallon bag, but had alot left over still.
    I would love to paint the ceiling a dark blue, not sure they have that color though. I also considered rolling out sheets of dark blue paper with cut outs I'd make of constellations or other patterns from outer space :)
    I think the milk paint would most likely be the safest for the birds, of any paint I have ever researched.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great job! Thanks for posting the photos...I am mixing up a batch of
    cottage cheese (goat milk) and hydrated lime...thinking of putting in some rusty nails...available on the farm.
    I am a Wild Canary for many reasons...like that you post the MCS info!

    ReplyDelete