What do you get when you pair a group of creative bloggers with the Velvet Finishes Paint line?

a Makeover Madness Blog Hop of course!

If you’re coming over from Pursuing Vintage, welcome. Didn’t you just love Kristen’s #makeovermadnessbloghop transformation? I sure did.

If you’re a regular follower of the blog, let me tell you a little about the Makeover Madness Blog Hop. Over the next two days, myself along with 10 other bloggers will be sharing some fantastic furniture and accessory makeovers using paint. Fellow blogger, Kellie Smith of Design Asylum happens to also own a really amazing paint line called Velvet Finishes and she graciously partnered with us and supplied each blogger with paint and products to complete their makeover.

I discovered Velvet Finishes a couple of years ago and painted a small accent table with it. I loved the product and how easy it was to transform my table so for this blog hop, I decided to tackle a couple more small pieces. After looking through the Velvet Finishes colors, I decided on Baroque and Handsome, a beautiful emerald green and a rich cardinal blue.

The first piece I transformed was this pretty umbrella stand that I picked up at an antique store for under $20. I loved the classic lines, the carved spindles on each corner and the brass catch tray. The minute I saw it, I knew it needed a bold color to really make it special.

The first step in painting this piece was to use Velvet Finishes READY to clean and prep the surface. All you have to do is spray READY on, let it sit for a few minutes and then wipe it away. Your surface will be clean and ready for paint. I love this stuff!

Next I applied the paint (no priming needed–a big bonus in my book) using a good quality paint brush. One of the things I like most about Velvet Finishes is how smooth the paint goes on and how the brush strokes just disappear as the paint dries. It really makes painting a breeze.

Here’s my umbrella stand after a couple of coats of paint and the addition of a little brass ring handle I added to one side.

♦♦♦

Next I painted a vintage metal cart that I found at a thrift store a couple of years ago for only $8.00. When I originally purchased the piece, it looked like this …

and then I painted it gold.

Since my current color crush is emerald green and blue, I decided to give the cart another makeover using Velvet Finishes Baroque. The cart turned out so great and I am head-over-heels with the piece now. FYI, it took 2 coats of paint to fully cover the gold.

What a transformation!

{wood casters are original to the cart}

{you can find the tutorial for my DIY ice bucket here}

{black glass handles from hobby lobby}

The last piece I painted was an accessory for the bar cart. I found a wine bottle holder at Goodwill for a couple of bucks and painted it in Handsome which matched my other blue accessories perfectly. You can see the bottle holder on the bottom shelf of the bar cart. It’s a simple piece but in a vibrant color, it has so much more style. I may add these brass corner guards later to UpStyle it even more.

I have one more piece I painted using Velvet Finishes but I’ll save that to share with you another day. Also, I wanted to tell you that as a finish coat on my pieces, I used Velvet Finish PROTECT product. PROTECT is a specially formulated, commercial grade, non-yellowing satin polyacrylic which further seals the paint and gives the finish a bit of a shine. It’s just as easy to apply as the paint and dries quickly.

If you’ve never tried Velvet Finishes before, I highly recommend you give it a try. Their claim to fame is… ‘The NO sand, NO prime, NO chalk, NO wax furniture paint formula that will rock your world’ and I have to tell you the paint lives up to those claims in every way. It’s super easy to use and you’ll end up with a really beautiful finish on any piece you paint. I’m thrilled with my transformations.