We wanted a warm rich looking bathroom. White would make this room washed out, but the current cabinets doors were MDF panels so staining was not an option. The cabinets has to look like they were stained without being too dark like an espresso which would be too contemporary for the room. Using multiple layers I created a dark rich walnut wood look that matched the master bedroom furniture which made the room flow.
I started with antique white milk paint and topped it off with high performance top coat to avoid any color washing. I then applied one coat of burnt umber glaze with intentional brush marks which the groundwork for the final product "look of real wood staining". Using various techniques I then applied 3 coats of Van Dyke Brown Glaze. I added GF extender each time to extend the working time. This allowed me to be creative and insure I kept all strokes in the direction real wood grain would follow. The third coat of glaze was applied with a foam brush to soften the look but increase the richness of color. Lastly I applied 3 coats of Arm-R-Seal Urethane. The Arm-R-Seal not only gave me an extremely durable top coat it added depth and richness to the color. This project has many steps, but did not take very long because of the products used. Had this been done with latex paint the wait time between paint and glaze would have been a minimum of 10-14 days. Milk paint dries very quickly and does not expand like a latex paint allowing you to seal with an urethan almost immediately. I am so thrilled with the way this came out and even more surprised it did it myself.
