General FinishesWater Based Milk Paint, 1 Pint, Dark Chocolate

We bought our house a couple years ago and we had the builder grade honey oak cabinets in the kitchen but I really wanted something a little more classy and warm. I did A LOT of research before I finally decided to go with General Finishes Dark Chocolate Milk Paint. I have a very large kitchen with 34 cabinet doors and 10 large drawers so I decided to get a full gallon and apply three coats each. I bought my paint from a wood working store about 30 miles from my house but my husband is a luthier so he always has a reason to go down there. The people at the store didn't know too much about the paint so I just had to trust my research and not let them sway me into using chalk paint or glaze. I am SO happy I stuck to my decision and didn't get talked into anything else because I am in love with my kitchen now!After all was done, I ended up with just under half a gallon of the milk paint left and was really surprised at how much coverage I got out of the paint. I did both the front and backs of all the cabinet doors and, of course, all the frames too. I took the doors off the hinges and sanded them down lightly before wiping clean and applying the first coat and did all the frames before mounting the doors back on. I put three to four coats of the milk paint on everything.I used a good foam brush (or several of them) as suggested by the manufacture and I followed all their drying and reapplying directions. This was not something I wanted to redo after a few months of wear so I made sure I was doing it right the first time. I had doors everywhere for a couple of weeks while I let them all get good drying time in. Thankfully, I was able to find space in my house where they could be stored without my children's little fingers leaving their marks on them.I did completely empty all my cabinets before lightly sanding down the frames. I used that time to then wipe them all out nice (we had been in the house two years at that point so it couldn't hurt to give them a little attention) and then I put everything back in them before painting the frames. I didn't paint the inside of the cabinets but left them the original color. I went back and forth on this but after some more research and just general asking around this seemed the best, and easiest, way to go.I finished off all my painted areas with General Finishes Clear Top Coat. That stuff is also amazing! The paint is so thick but it doesn't clump or dry unevenly. I did three coats of the top coat on everything. It added a beautiful sheen to all my doors, drawers, and frames and is a great protectant!It has been a year since I finished the kitchen now and everything has held up beautifully! We have three children and host very often, not to mention that I spend most of my time cooking and baking, so our kitchen gets a lot of wear but I haven't had to go touch up any of the paint. Nothing seems to be worn or rough and I am a super perfectionist so things like that would stand out to me like a sore thumb.I added some pictures below so you could see the difference and little bit of the process. You can see in one image the cabinets before the top coat was applied and a couple of the other pictures show you the original wood over the new painted wood. Also, one picture has just a single coat of the milk paint verses the final result of three coats and two top coats. Don't worry about the right bottom cabinet on side. I had found some mold behind it in that area and behind the dishwasher so I ended up tearing the wall apart and rebuilding it and then replacing the cabinet with a new one. It had nothing to do with the painting process. I did some other things to the kitchen to improve the look other than just the paint too. I raised the molding up higher and added trim to cover the seals, I added bead board to the island and all the cabinet ends, I added molding around the island and to the bottom cabinet ends, as well as replaced all the hardware. People are amazed when they come over and can't believe the transformation and that I did it all myself. I have a whole new kitchen and the complete project only cost me about $400.

I wasn't sure what this would be like. I've used all types of paints and even chalk paint(which didn't impress me). Decided to redo my bed room furniture, due to scratches from moving etc, or just tired of all the pieces not matching. I was really impressed how smooth this painted. Granted what I was painting was already dark, the scratches weren't. Very easy to work with, no special brushes or primer needed. The pieces I could take outside I just spray painted with a satin miniwax finish. The others I did the brush on gloss finish, was trying to keep brush marks at a minimum. Last pieces of furniture I used a water based sealer, polycrylic which worked without any problems.Extremely happy with this and will look to it for future crafting ideas. It cleans up with soap/water, either off brushes or your skin. No smell at all, one quart got two nightstands, a vanity, and a tall boy dresser painted with two coats, and still ton left.I used almost a full quart on my entire bedroom set. Purchased 1 pint to finish the last 1/4 of my bed frame and to have for touch ups.

The General Finishes Dark Chocolate milk paint is by far my favorite! Can you tell which bathroom cabinet is painted and which one was bought the exact same color? Me either! It's a perfect match! I am in the process of painting every piece of trim & door in my house! Which door do you like best in my hallway? The bathroom cabinet has 2 coats of paint & one coat of General Finishes Top Coat. The hallway door has 2 coats of paint without a top coat. You can see the dark chocolate trim in the kitchen picture around the door, (2 coats & a top coat in this one) but look at the bottom trim between the cabinet at the white trim I hadn't painted yet, the dark chocolate makes my paint colors pop & look warm & inviting! (My Oak cabinets are painted with General finishes Linen, 3 coats & 1 top coat) When I told friends and family that I was painting my trim & doors dark chocolate they all told me not to, until the seen the results, now they are wowed as well! The bathroom cabinet that was bought the dark chocolate color at Lowe's is the top cabinet, but General Finishes dark Chocolate is an exact match! Easiest paint I have ever worked with!! (The last picture is one coat of dark chocolate over a white door & some people loved the old look that it gave so I included the picture) One coat over white looks almost black, but I used my flash so it doesn't look that way in the picture.

Main point: It looks black in low levels of light and milky/dark chocolate brown in higher levels of light. If you are even remotely/slightly color blind like in anyway, it will only look black to you. My father is color blind with reds and greens and could not see any brown hues. My opinion broken down:Natural Light:- High Levels: Chocolate Brown- Low Levels: Mainly black with slight chocolate brown hue, dependent upon your vision strengthFluorescent Light:- High Levels: Chocolate Brown- Low Levels: BlackLow Natural & Low Fluorescent light together: Chocolate BrownI found it on a kitchen remodel blog on accident and absolutely fell in love with the color type. I was skeptical at first so I bought a pint to paint one bathroom to see how it looked and it came out perfect. It came out so great that I did my whole house 4 bathrooms and a full kitchen. I also used General Finishes High Performance Satin sealer for my final coat so I didn't have too much of a gloss/glare. Overall, I'm happy with both the paint and sealer.Single Con: The only con that everyone needs to be aware of is this paint is thick! Make sure to spread evenly or you will have dripping/thick paint lines. My main problem I had was making sure to smooth over where my last stroke left off. Just beware of this before the paint dries, otherwise you'll be re-sanding and wasting paint.