This post was sponsored by BEHR Paint, but the opinions I express here are 100% mine!

Earlier this summer, I was contacted by the people from BEHR Paint, who asked me if I wanted to receive their “Summer Staycation Box” and work on a project using the products include in it. How lucky am I? Of course I accepted!

The box arrived home in early July, and I felt like a child on Christmas day when I opened it. There was so much cool stuff in it!

These are the beautiful colors that came in it. From left to right:

Very Navy (M500-7), Fiji (P460-5), Whisper Yellow (300A-2) and Palais White (GR-W15) (all colors in BEHR MARQUEE® Paint).

I couldn’t wait to put my hands on this project but it turns out my summer was much busier than usual with my sister’s family and my in-laws visiting from Brazil. I was running all over the place, but with the help of my twin sister, Carla, I still managed to squeeze this project in the last weeks of July.

Fist of all, Carla helped me choose a piece for the project. I had something totally different in mind but ended up picking (with her approval) this bookshelf we found at my local Goodwill.

It was also in the same Goodwill that we found some of the props we used to stage the piece.

My sister helped me a lot, especially with the final part of choosing the right props and staging the piece for pictures. She’s got a great eye for staging. I really wish she lived closer to me so we could be business partners.

Here is how the bookcase looks now.

This time I recorded the entire process, so you can start by watching my video tutorial below, and if you want more details, read the step by step below or ask me any questions in the comments.

How I Painted It – Step by Step

(This post contains some affiliate links* for your convenience)

1- Fixed most damaged and scratched areas with wood filler. That was quite a challenge because one of the legs was missing very large part.

2 – Light sanded the whole piece then cleaned it well with a mix of water and vinegar.

3 – Sprayed one coat of clear Shellac  to improve the paint adherence and avoid bleeding. I usually prime with white or gray primer, but I wanted to distress this piece and with a clear primer, I can sand the paint and the wood will show through, not the primer.

4 – After shellac was dry, brushed one coat of  Whisper Yellow, one of the colors that came in my Staycation Box. I used a chip brush for that.

5 – With a very wet brush, I started applying Palais White on the top area of the piece. i was not looking for a smooth, neat look. On the contrary, my strokes were unruly and in several directions.

6 – I sprayed a little more water to my brush and started adding Whisper Yellow, letting it blend with the white on the lower area.

7 – Always with my brush wet, I went back and forth with both light colors (white and yellow) until I liked what I saw.

8 – I repeated the same pattern on the outside of the shelves.

9 – With a clean wet brush, I started adding the turquoise, Fiji .

10 – Covered a large part with the turquoise then added and blended some more yellow into it to make a smooth transition between both colors.

11 – Added the navy blue, Very Navy and repeated step 10, this time with navy and turquoise.

12 – After all was dry, I distressed the entire piece with a sanding block, especially the corners and edges.

13 – Applied a mix of Annie Sloan clear and dark over the entire piece, and buffed it with a clean cloth.

14 – Finally I made the holes to install the super-cute seashell knobs I found for a bargain on Amazon. I spread them out over the navy drawer to resemble real shells on the bottom of the ocean.

I hope this tutorial inspires you to make something bright and colorful! The blending process is a bit hard to explain without images, so I recommend that you watch the five-minute video tutorial I put together of the process.

 

AS PART OF THE STAYCATION PROJECT, I AM GIVING AWAY A FEW PRIZES FOR MY FOLLOWERS IN THE U.S. AND CANADA, INCLUDING THIS BOOKCASE, A $50 HOME DEPOT GIFT CARD AND TWO WOOSTER PRO PAINT BRUSHES. CHECK OUT THE RULES ON MY FACEBOOK PAGE .

This project was featured on Make it Pretty Monday!

I’m sharing this project on these awesome link parties.

Sweet Inspiration

Friday at the Fire Station

Sizzle into Summer

DIY Show Off

Tuesdays with a Twist

 

Thank for reading!

Patricia.

*If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I get a small commission from Amazon. There is no additional cost to you.