Homestead House Series: Waterloo Green

Happy Veteran’s Day Everyone! You would think since both my husband and I are veterans (still serving) we’d be enjoying the free day off from work today. Days off in our house hold usually translate to catching up on projects and errands we couldn’t get to during the week, so it’s just work work work for us today in the Sutton household. To update you, we’ve had a lot going on  since we’ve moved here with our home reno, custom painting projects and continuing to run our business. As we move into the busy season, we need to double-time our projects and continue to get ready for the holidays with our Etsy shop, so really, our break will come after the new year. One of the things I’ve been neglecting is our blog, so I thought I would dedicate some time to blog about this country pine bench I did a while back  in Homestead House Milk Paint, “Waterloo Green.”

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I found this bench in a thrift store, just looking for a quick project. If I go a few days without painting, I begin to go stir crazy, so small projects I can complete in a day or less are my favorite to get my painting fix in. This bench was your traditional yellow pine bench that had lots of scuffs and scratches. But I liked it that way!

I didn’t do too much to prep this piece, so below you will find a condensed version of the prep and a list of supplies I used to get this look.

The Prep:

• Clean bench with Krud Kutter and soapy water
• Wipe down with Mineral Spirits to remove wax residue.
• Lightly sand with 220 grit paper to open the grain.
• Wipe away dust with tack cloth.

Now my bench was ready for paint! I painted only ONE coat of Homestead House Milk Paint in Waterloo Green on this bench. Yes…I said ONE COAT! This color was so highly pigmented that I hardly needed a second coat. I didn’t even bother touching up because I knew I was going to distress, but the color was not translucent at all which I REALLY loved.

Next came the distressing part. As the paint dried, it crackled and crazed into this amazing alligator texture. I wanted to distress it to give it more added character but not sand through the texture so I was very selective about where I sanded. I used 22o grit paper to sand in places where I thought natural distressing might occur.

I sprayed the bench with 2 coats of General Finishes High Performance Topcoat in Satin for durability. I figured with people sitting on the bench, it may need some added protection to last. But the poly did not give the paint the rich color I wanted. So I polished one coat of Fusion Beeswax finish to penetrate the poly and enrich the color. I have said it before and will say it again…YOU NEED THIS WAX IN YOUR LIFE! It has saved many projects of mine and given me the lasting finish that has been tested by pets, kids, toys and life!

Thats it folks! Just some milk paint, poly and wax gave this bench that lake side cabin feel I was going for, while at the same time satisfying my need to paint! I really love this green paired with black and white and it fits in so well here in my entryway. Ill have to paint with this color soon!

I have a project drying in the garage now, so I better get back to work. Maybe if I finish early we can actually get a chance to relax and enjoy our veterans day. Hope you all take a moment to appreciate the sacrifice our military members make to leave everything behind for the call of duty. It takes a strong person to make that commitment, but many of us are making it our lives! Lest we forget!