junk score: Cart Makeover! (and a milk paint review)

While driving to a friend's house one day, we found a large old window and this cart. Any guesses as to what this may have been? Maybe some kind of speaker or stereo? Updated: Or probably like THIS?

Luckily, the weird cut out was easily removable, and my sweet little Vanna White helped me remove all of the screws.

Once it was out, I decided to grab some of Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in French Enamel to try out the milk paint craze. 

Here she is:

I painted on two coats of blue milk paint in the kitchen and decided that downstairs or outside is best when using any kind of paint (especially drippy milk paint). The next day I distressed it and used my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White (because I had it) to paint in the details. Then I distressed a little more, sanded down the whole thing with a fine sandpaper (240 grit), and waxed with dark and clear wax to antique and protect it.

While I loved the casters, one was missing and there were no easy replacements to be found online. Forty bucks on 4 vintage casters was more than I wanted to put into this baby. She has pretty legs, so I pulled the caster pins off with my trusty vice-grips and decided to leave 'er at that.

Loving the details!!

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As for the milk paint, I had watched tutorials and read online about mixing the paint (you purchase it in powdered form because it is perishable), its consistency, coverage, etc. I still wasn't exactly prepared to have little clumps all over my piece. The color wasn't uniform, especially as I brushed through the clumps, which I didn't mind for this piece, but is good to know if I would want a completely smooth, uniform color on another piece. (In that case, I would use an immersion blender.) However, the clumps and colors worked because I wanted to distress it. I also left out the bonding agent (1) because it was $12 more to spend and (2) because I wanted to see how this piece would distress/chip. The photo above is the chippiest she got - as every piece is unpredictable - and I chipped off all of the little clumps too. I'm not sure I like milk paint as well as chalk paint (which I loved from the start!), but I'll give it a go on a few other pieces and let you know.
**And do I really need to add that I wasn't compensated for this post? I just wanted to try milk paint out. On my own dolla'.