I hope you guys had a great weekend! Welcome to another Paint It Monday.
This last week, we started a big room revamp for my daughter Bella. My girl is going to be 10 years old next month (pass me a tissue) and together, we have come up with a plan to transform her sweet little girl room into a bold and bright “tween” space. I can hardly breath when I think of my sweet little baby girl becoming a tween (hold me now..)
Almost everything in her room will be transformed and we have some really cool DIY projects planned that I can’t wait to share with you guys over the next couple of weeks. We have already done a couple projects like painting fixtures, knobs and some little things. Bella has requested lots of gold in her new room and painting old hardware and fixtures gold is easy because of my favorite little enamel paints made by Testors:
Testor’s enamel paints are used for paint model cars and airplanes and they are super durable and the colors are just beautiful. I think the Testors gold is even prettier than the Rustoleum gold because it looks so natural and not yellow-ish. By the way, you can find them at the craft store in the model car section and they come in a small bottle at they cost about $1.99! The also have spray enamels too!
I have talked about my love of Testors enamels a lot over the years but until now, I never had this many projects to really show you some great good examples. So let me show you a couple projects that we did this last week with the Testors gold like this empire chandelier from Lowe’s that I picked up for $70.00 and painted in pink and turquoise. The metal part of the fixture with the Testors gold:
The colored part of this piece was done with the new awesome Velvet Finishes paint and I cannot even tell you how blown away we were with the finish and colors when we were done. That beautiful matte finish made the beads look like stones!! I still can’t stop looking at this piece and as you can see, that Testors gold is just the right shade of gold for the frame of the fixture. I will go into the full step-by-step tutorial of this piece on Wednesday and I will link it back here when it’s up.
Here is a close up of the gold part of the fixture that we painted with the Testors. Just look at how smooth and pretty that brushed gold is:
we also painted some knobs gold:
We also painted the metal part of this little desk lamp with Testors (it was silver):
Using enamel paint is ideal when painting things like knobs and fixtures because the finish is super durable for things that will get a lot of wear. Keep in mind though that enamels need a full 48-72 hours to dry and cure but once they do, the finish can take anything! Also, I highly recommend buying the Testors paint brushes as well (they are just $1.99) and they are sold right next to the paints. The bristles are designed specifically for the paints and they just go on beautifully with the brush:
Testors has all kinds of colors including chrome, brass, silver and the primary colors and I have used them all for all kinds of projects and all of the colors are just as pretty as the gold.
Now that we have “gold-ified” my girl’s room, we are moving on to hot pink and turqouise! Thanks for stopping by today and if you happened to miss last week’s Paint It Monday, you can get to that post by clicking the image directly below:
Cheers!
Cyndy
Lisa @ Shine Your Light says
Cyndy you are rocking my world with this chandelier! It is stunning!!!! I was just on the Velvet Finishes website this weekend, I am dying to try their paints after your recent recommendation. Now it’s a done deal – I just need a project to use them on 🙂 Your Bella is a lucky girl!!
Cyndy says
Thank you so much Lisa! My girl is so excited about the chady and we keep looking up at it and can’t believe how pretty it turned out! Yes girl, you of all people will just love Velvet Finishes. If you do decide to try, you’ll have to tell me what color you decided on!
Jenn @ HomeStyleReport says
Oh my goodness, you just brought back childhood memories with that Testors paint! My dad has been building model cars ever since I can remember! I never thought to use them for a DIY project! Can’t wait to grab me some!
Bella is one lucky lady, I have a feeling her room will be absolutely stunning!
Cyndy says
I have used Testor’s since I was a child myself (cousin did model cars) and it really is the first paint I ever played with. I have all the colors and use it for appliance touch ups and all kinds of stuff! I mix them together and I especially love to mix the metallics with a primary color. Best stuff for hardware! It’s great stuff girl! Thanks so much Jenn!!
Megan @ Our PInteresting Family says
That chandelier is amazing, Cyndy!! What a lucky girl your daughter is! Thanks for sharing these fun ideas. 🙂 Her room is going to be amazing.
Cyndy says
Thanks so much sweet Megan! Its starting to come together!
Joan B. says
Thanks for sharing this! I have used rust inhibitor paint with great success. It too goes on smooth and easy. Got to try this!
Cyndy says
I have never used the rust inhibitor paint for hardware but that is smart Joan! I will have to try it. Thanks!
Jenny@EvolutionofStyle says
Wowza! You just keep on bringing it with all of these great paint recommendations! LOOOOOOVE that chandelier – absolutely gorgeous! Adding this paint to my arsenal of painting awesomeness. 🙂
Cyndy says
Oh girl, I love all your paint/stain goodness! Bella is so excited about her chandy. Thanks so much Jenny!
debbie says
Bella’s room is going to be beautiful. I love the chandy.
Cyndy says
Thank you Debbie!
Susan says
Would the velvet paint work outdoors? I have 2 adirondack chairs in great need of paint.
Cyndy says
Since Velvet Finishes is a water based product, it cannot be used for outdoors Susan. They are currently exploring and testing the line for exterior applications. I use deck paint on several of my outdoor wood pieces and they always seem to last longer than conventional paint. They have some bold colors too if you wanted to go bright. Thank you so much for stopping by!
Pam @ Simple Details says
Cyndy, your chandelier turned out fantastic, what a fun dose of personality!! I can’t wait to see the rest of the room! Thanks for the paint tips, I can always use another gold option! 🙂
Cyndy says
Thank you so much Pam! Yes, if you have hard to reach areas or areas that you can’t spray, the Testor’s is perfect and it covers beautifully if you use their brush. By the way, it’s fun to mix their colors with the metallics too for a metallic finish for a lamp revamp or other projects like that. Be fun to mix the orange with gold or the turquoise!
BrendaM says
Hi Cyndy,
Is there any prep needed for the hardware?? This is an amazing idea for our kitchen cabinet hardware. Mixed with the milk paint from your recent blog….amazing!
Cyndy says
Yes, I forgot to mention that in the post (I will go back and edit), you should clean hardware with alcohol and dry off completely to prep. No need to prime or rough up. Again, enamel does take a lot longer to dry but its well worth the wait! Thanks Brenda!
Janet says
Happy birthday to your Bella!
Love the room and your transformations, as always. The gold really pops.
Question about the paint, do you think it can be used on the thin strip of brass I want to cover on my fireplace glass doors ( with black testor paint)? They would be opened and not up against direct heat. I’m laughing because the bottle says flammable , but really, they don’t get hot.
Cyndy says
You know Janet, I would do it if it were me. As long as the doors are never hot. I have used the paint on candle holders and all kinds of stuff like that and never had it melt or catch fire. Its rock solid after it cures. A couple things… Make sure that you get the enamel and not the acrylic that they sell. They also have a flat or a gloss and the gloss is very glossy! I would test them both out to see what finish you like best. If the flat is too flat and the gloss is too shiny, mix together.
Be sure and buy the Testor’s brushes too (you may need a wider oil based brush if its a wider space so you don’t see brush marks) and you’ll need the small jar of paint thinner they sell for clean up. After you paint, just keep your eye on the area during your first fire to see if there are any issues.
Good luck!
Rayana Botelho says
Love the chandelier! Great color combination.
I had never heard of testers paint, will be definitely trying it out. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Nancy says
I’m so glad to see this. I got a deal on a chandelier for my DR but it was antique brass. Pretty, but I’ve been leaning towards silvery metals. They don’t have to be matchy-matchy but I just want them to agree with each other. I’ve been pondering what to use and considered leafing, but bought some Rub n Buff. But, now I think this is the way to go. Thank you. I love your ideas.
Cyndy says
Absolutely Nancy! If I had to choose a paint for that type of project, I would choose the Testors. They have a traditional silver and a few other silvers like chrome, nickel and something else. I would buy them all and test on something to see which silver you like best. Since these are for model cars, their metallics are really authentic and fantastic!
Good luck!
Jennifer says
I just found your chandelier redo by searching for “lowe’s shell chandelier.” I saw this chandelier last night on sale and was looking for pictures of it. This is beautiful! Can you suggest a different brand of paint for the beads? I don’t know where I could find the brand you used.