Photo: Manhattan001 (Shutterstock)
Even if you’ve never heard of milk paint or chalk paint, you’ve definitely seen them. Other than that the chalk paint we’re referring to here isn’t the dark sort that you can turn any surface into your own blackboard. This is something else.
The milk paint and chalk paint we are talking about are decorative surfaces, more so than traditional paints. Both produce the weathered, antique patina that people love but want right away instead of waiting decades for their furniture to age.
In fact, they are similar in other ways too, which only adds to the confusion. Here’s what to know about the differences between milk paint and chalk paint, and when to use them, courtesy of an article Lee Wallender wrote for The Spruce.
Milk paint vs. chalk paint
Besides the above, there are other similarities between milk paint and chalk paint, according to Wallender. For starters, both are water-based, easy to mix, quick drying with a matte finish, and contain minimal amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
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In fact, their ingredients are almost identical. In addition to being water-based, both milk and chalk paints are made from minerals, with calcium carbonate as the star of the show, along with guest appearances from other minerals and pigments such as ocher, umber, iron oxide and soot, Wallender explains.
Ultimately, the difference between milk paint and chalk paint lies in a single, organic ingredient: milk protein. When you buy milk paint, it doesn’t look like paint at first because it comes as a dry powder with some dry pigments and you are responsible for adding the water. Chalk paint, on the other hand, is completely inorganic and is usually supplied ready-to-use and mixed.
When should you use milk paint or chalk paint?
For the most part, it all depends on the look you want the paint to achieve. Wallender explains. Milk paint is thinner, so not only can it mix in pigments and act as the paint itself, but it can also serve as a detergent. It also tends to have a finish a little more dull than chalk paint, if that’s important to you.
Milk paint is kind of lumpy too, which is a good thing if you want an aged, streaky finish. And to make the IKEA chair look even older, if you sand a surface that has been used on milk paint, some of it will flake off, which gives the furniture an even more distressed look.
Meanwhile, chalk paint dries with a flat … well, chalky finish. but Wallender points out, it can also be used to “create a modern, smooth, streak-free texture by sanding down multiple layers of fine-grain sandpaper,” so potentially more versatile.
