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The Easiest Antique Chippy Paint Technique

Painted furniture seems to be all the rave lately, right?  Chalk paint, Milk paint, latex paint, so many different types of paint. How do you create that chippy barn paint look? What paint should you use? How do you apply it? I’m going to try to answer all these questions and show you how I painted my fireplace mantel with the easiest antique chippy paint technique I could find.

Easiest Antique Chippy Paint Technique

I’m going to be honest… researching antique painting techniques was a little overwhelming. There are so many different options. Where does one even start? I’ll share a few different options that I had been asked about in the past.

How do you create chippy paint with vaseline?

You use vaseline to prevent the paint from bonding to certain areas. Wherever you apply the vaseline, the paint will not stick. You apply it with a chip brush or a rag and then paint the furniture piece as you normally would. Once the paint is dry you can use a rag or paper towel to wipe away the vaseline (and the paint that was on top of it). You can also use sand paper to achieve a more distressed look.

Even though I do love the distressed look that the vaseline technique provides, I wanted more of the chippy paint look.

To get the “chippy paint” look, the key is for the paint to barely bond to the surface and crackle as it dries.

The vaseline allowed the paint to barely bond, but it didn’t create that “crackle paint” look.

There are many ways to attain this. Some people use a crackle agent, but this requires painting a base coat, then painting with the crackle agent and then a top coat. If you’ve ever used a crackle agent, you know they can be tricky. My one and only failed attempt with a crackle agent was enough for me to look for other techniques.

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What is the easiest chippy paint technique?

If you follow me, you know I always search out the easiest method to create with. With that being said, all my research landed me on one common answer;

Using milk paint without the bonding agent.

Recently I created an antique faux fireplace mantel and I finished the mantel with a “white wash” finish, but I wasn’t completely happy with it.  Hence my desire to refinish it with the Antique Chippy paint look.

antique fireplace mantel with a whitewash look

I recently completed a few Milk painted furniture projects and I talked about the two types of milk paint; the premixed form and the powder form of milk paint.

General Finishes makes a great premixed Milk paint, but for this chippy paint technique I needed the powdered form of Milk paint. For this project I used a product called Old Barn Milk Paint. As of today, I can’t find this product anymore but here is a very similar milk paint powdered product from Amazon.

How does a powdered form of milk paint work to create a chippy paint effect?

With a powdered form of milk paint, you typically mix it with water and or a bonding agent to create the paint product. This allows you have more control over the thickness of the paint and how you want it to look as either a wash/stain, full cover coat, or for a chippy paint look.

If you are looking to create a nice chippy paint effect, make sure to purchase a milk paint product that separates the bonding agent out of the paint.

Below are some of my favorite and highly recommended milk paint products that come in the powdered form.

Powdered Milk Paint products

  • Miss Mustard Seeds Milk paint– Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint is one of the leading products on the milk paint market because of its high quality materials and variety of products that go with it. She also has a wealth of knowledge on her website with tutorials on how to use the paint for a stunning finish (including a chippy paint finish).
  • Old Barn Milk Paint– This was the original product I used for this post, although I can’t find this specific product anymore. They also have tons of beautiful stain products too.
  • The Real Milk Paint Co. – This milk paint company has a wide variety of products and milk paint available in 56 different colors too. The colors can also be mixed to make custom colors.
  • Old Fashioned Milk Paint – You can find this product from Amazon to Walmart and small shops in between. This product gets mostly good reviews on Amazon.

How I created antique chippy paint look with milk paint

  1. Apply a dark wood tint over the whitewashed fireplace. I wanted to darken the fireplace so when the white milk paint started to peel away it would look dark and old underneath. This step is optional. Milk paint will chip and look just fine without it.
  2. Apply two coats of milk paint without the bonding agent. The milk paint I used is called Old Barn Milk Paint. I love this paint because it’s an organic compound made from simple ingredients.
  3. Watch the paint chip away! I did distress slightly with a fine grit sandpaper.

Side note; Wood tint can be used to darken anything and unlike most stains, you can paint over it. I’ve shared all about wood tint (Dye) vs. wood stain in a post with a video.

A few final photos:

chippy paint technique with milk paint without the bonding agent

It really looks like old lead paint chipping away doesn’t it?

antique mantel with chippy white paint

This is by far the best chippy paint method I could find. All I had to do was apply the paint and watch it chip away as it dried. It’s fascinating.

I love how the white chippy paint contrasts the faux birchwood fireplace insert.

antique fireplace mantel

I love all the detail and how the paint has chipped away on its own! No messy vaseline or crackle agent necessary!

My favorite part of this technique is that it really creates the chippy look of old lead paint without the health hazards.

Below are few pictures of my styled antique fireplace mantel. I went a little crazy with the lavender bundles, LOL.

fireplace mantel
fireplace mantel
antique fireplace mantel

What do you think? I was so pleased to find an easy, one step (really!) technique to create that chippy paint look.

Thanks for stopping by,

Lindsey**

Sources:

Semi Customizable Clock by Aimee Weaver Designs

Decorative Metal Watering Cans

Decorative Metal Vase

Lavender Bundles

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  1. Annie says:

    Hi, I love this technique and would like to try it . Question. I have a “whitewashed” piece . Can it do the dark wood tint over it and then the milk paint on top? Will it “chip
    away” the same ? Trying to avoid having to sand off the current failed paint technique.

  2. Sherry says:

    This is absolutely beautiful I am going to try this on an old door I turned into a headboard. My question is can I use dark paint instead of wood tint under the milk paint because the door is actually already painted white and I don’t want to sand it?

  3. […] Check out her reasoning and ‘after’ here. […]

  4. […] shared how to create the easiest antique chippy paint technique. Leigh transformed her dining room with a farmhouse table and chair […]

  5. […] the whitewash finish on this antique mantel to a chippy white finish, you can view my post HERE.  I also created a few videos about the transformation from whitewash to chippy paint on my you […]

  6. […] shared how to create the easiest antique chippy paint technique. Leigh transformed her dining room with a farmhouse table and chair […]

  7. […] the whitewash finish on this antique mantel to a chippy white finish, you can view my post HERE.  I also created a few videos about the transformation from whitewash to chippy paint on my you […]

  8. Great job on the chippy paint. Your fireplace looks awesome! The process look easy indeed and worth a try. Your wall clock also looks great, what paint technique did you use on it?

    • I did not make the wall clock, believe it or not. It is from a company called Aimee Weaver Designs, but it looks like she did a heavy white wash technique. Hope that helps!

  9. Your mantel looks great. Thanks for sharing how you painted your mantel and made your vision a reality. Thank you for sharing at the Snickerdoodle Create~Bake~Make link party!

  10. I too love milk paint Lindsey but have never tried it without the bonding agent. Right now I’m in the honeymoon phase with the regular safe milk paint. But at some point in the futere I would definitely like to try the original milk paint and get some chippy goodness.

  11. richellaparham says:

    Your fireplace looks wonderful! You’re right: this look is all the rage right now, but it can be hard to achieve. I think you’ve hit on a great technique. Love the idea of the old lead paint look without the health hazard. 🙂

    Thanks so much for joining the Grace at Home party at Imparting Grace. I’m featuring you this week!

  12. Diana says:

    Your mantel looks just beautiful, Lindsey! Thanks for doing all the research for us and giving us the low-down on how you achieved your look. Glad you shared it with us at Vintage Charm 🙂

  13. Stephanie says:

    You did a great job on this fireplace. Scheduled to our Pinterest boards. Thanks for sharing at To Grandma’s House We Go.

  14. Oh Lindsey, I have a faux fireplace that’s portable, I picked up for a steal. Have been trying to unload it as is for a photo staging prop, your making me rethink this. Perhaps I’ll give her a makeover and use it for Christmas prop this year! Loving the milk paint makeover., thanks for sharing it at #FridaysFurnitureFix, hope you’ll pop over on the 22nd for our giveaway!

  15. AnnMarie says:

    I love this look and it is what I hoped to get with the milk paint I bought, but it didn’t work! What is the bonding agent that you don’t want in the paint? The brand I bought is Home Décor, which you can get at Michael’s or JoAnn’s. Your fireplace is styled perfectly for the chippy look! Love the wood and moss “fireplace screen”!

    • Hi Ann Marie,
      there are so many different brands and types of milk paint on the market today. Most of the brands you buy at big stores like Michael’s will obviously have the “bonding” agent mixed in. I’m not sure what the bonding agent is called. Old Barn Milk Paint is one of the first companies I had run across where you could buy the bonding agent seperately. I also think Miss Mustard Seed is another milk paint brand you can buy that seperates the bonding agent out. Hope this helps?!

  16. Wow! Love how your fireplace turned out! Thanks for sharing at the #InspirationSpotlight party @DearCreatives Pinned & sharing.

  17. Lisa says:

    I also love milk paint, although it doesn’t always chip, especially if the surface is porous. I’m not familiar with wood tint. What’s the brand? I’d like to try it!

  18. Painting furniture items is so daunting! Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m definitely going to have to give milk paint a try sometime. Thanks so much for sharing at the #happynowlinkup!

  19. Sandra Garth says:

    It is perfectly weathered and distressed! Thank you for sharing with us this week at Celebrate Your Story, and I hope your week is going great.

  20. JESS44903 says:

    I so love how this looks! 🙂

    I would love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for recipes, crafts, tips, and tricks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/

    Thanks for joining the 100th Cooking and Crafting with J & J!

  21. Coombe Mill says:

    I love that shabby chic distressed look, so calming and minimal. What a lovely job you’ve made of the fireplace. #CreativeMondays

  22. helenfern says:

    Looks great – Thanks for sharing on the Pleasures of the NW’s DIY party!

  23. Vicky Myers says:

    Thanks for sharing your research, I’m pinning so I can find it again!! The finished fire place is great, visiting from The DIY Link Up.

  24. Leanna says:

    This is really beautiful, I love our faux fireplace. Pinning your chippy paint technique. Thanks for the tutorial

  25. Bobbi says:

    I just love white interiors with lots of texture. This chippy paint technique fits in perfectly with that look. Thanks for sharing!

  26. Sammi Ricke says:

    I was just talking to my husband about using the chippy method on a set of barn doors we will be installing in our master suite. However, I wasn’t quite sure how to achieve that look until now. Thank you!! Pinning!!