By Erin A. Winter, MD

In a nesting fit during my first pregnancy this past fall, I was searching for paint for the nursery and was referred to milk paint for its no-chemical benefits.

I had never heard of milk paint before, but some quick research showed it to: (1) be easy; (2) no more expensive then normal paint; (3) healthful for use in pregnancy and around infants and children; (4) offer LOTS of colors to mix or play around with; and (5) be durable.

SO I contacted the very nice and helpful people at milkpaint.com and was able to try out the paint in three colors that I mixed into two custom colors for my nursery.

My mother came to help and we started our ‘adventures in painting the nursery with milk paint!’. We picked a warm ivory color for one wall (a standard color that required no special blending), a silvery gray-lavender for another wall and a darker gray for a smaller accent wall that has mostly closet doors on it (both requiring mixing two or three paints together). The process is relatively straightforward but you will want a really good paint mixer since the paint needs to be mixed well to get a uniform color. We also found that letting it sit a bit before starting to paint helps with the texture and thickness. We used higher quality rollers and brushes but I’m not sure they were necessary. The darker colors definitely needed two coats and a few touchups in places (we painted over white walls without any primer).

The end ‘feel’ is very organic and a nice matte finish. Perfect for the nursery! AND I wasn’t  concerned when my cat wandered in to check things out while we were painting, as there were no fumes or chemicals to be concerned about.

Overall, the painting process was more involved than just picking a color and buying paint at the store, but it didn’t take too long. Once we got the hang of the mixing process. There is a great online ‘book’ of different colors and how to mix them as well. A little extra time but worth it for a healthful product!