Finished Windsor chair with milk paint and oil finish

Wow, I can finally claim that the Windsor chair I have been working on is… 100% done. In fact, I’m sitting on it as I type this. What a great feeling! (For my rear end, and my morale!)

Here’s a few photos of the final milk paint job. I’m really digging the bayberry green color.

Buffing the chair before applying oil finish

The chair received two coats of red, and another two coats of green. The idea is that the red paint peeks through and adds a lot of character to the finish, almost making the chair look older than it is. After the final green coat was dry, I spent some good time buffing the chair with steel wool. Check out the above picture for the effect — buffing smooths and shines the surface, and brings the red base coat out.

Applying linseed oil & varnish finish

Once the buffing was complete, I applied linseed oil and varnish (with thinner) to the chair, and wiped it carefully to avoid leaving shiny spots anywhere on the surface. Besides the smell, this was definitely the best part…

The red base coat peeks through the final green coat

And that was it! You could see in this shot how that red just somewhat peeks through the green. It’s a great effect.

Voila!