Oh ya’ll, this week’s reader submitted before and after is a gem! Helen, fellow DIYer and blogger over at Picked and Painted, submitted this truly amazing milk paint transformation of a vintage buffet. Take it away, Helen!

“Hi, I’m Helen and I make ugly furniture pretty. I am originally from Texas and I now live outside of St. Louis. I have a super supportive husband (aka handyman) and two small girls. Between being a stay at home mom, wife, and all of the other things I do; I find time to paint furniture. I have a blog called Picked & Painted,” said Helen.

“I found this vintage buffet at Goodwill and knew I wanted it. It was massive and in decent shape. I needed to remove the veneer from the top but other than that it didn’t need much work,” said Helen.

Here is the before shot of Helen’s picked vintage buffet.

“I took it home and started taking off the veneer with my heat gun. Unfortunately, after sanding and staining I was not happy with how the wood looked. I was hoping to stain the top a dark walnut and paint the bottom with milk paint but it didn’t work out that way,” said Helen.

“I knew I wanted a pretty shade of grey with hints of blue. I had some milk paint on hand so I mixed sea green, light cream and pitch black to get this pretty color. I wanted to add a little depth to the color so I used a brown glaze to achieve the finished look,” said Helen.

Here are the after photos Helen’s vintage buffet transformation (seriously, are you ready for these? because they are amazing…drum roll please….).

“I love this buffet! It came out perfect and I think the milk paint gave it the perfect worn look,” said Helen.

We couldn’t agree more!

Inspired? Paint your own transformations using milk paint – you can purchase milk paint, chalk paint and brushes in our online shop or in our retail store.

Want to learn basic painting techniques? There are a few spots left in our Basic Paint Class THIS Saturday the 13th! Register here – these spots will go quickly.

And as always – we LOVE seeing, reading and hearing about your DIY furniture transformations, please submit your projects here and include before and after photos!