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DIY, Painted Furniture, Crafts, Tutorials, Painting Tips, Before and After

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The Easy Way To Paint Metal Patio Furniture

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Paint Metal Patio Furniture

Wanted to let you know you can paint metal patio furniture.  I did and it came out great. A good quality spray paint is the answer.

Today is themed furniture day and the theme is “outdoor furniture”. Not only is my project super simple…..it’s budget friendly. Gotta love that.

The easy way to paint metal patio furniture Petticoat Junktion

Spray Paint Metal Patio Furniture

We have a set of outdoor furniture that includes a large round table and two of the original four swivel rocking chairs. The set is 20+ years old and it was pretty expensive when new back in the early 90’s….it was made to last. The metal frames are heavy and that’s a plus.

 

Patio Furniture Before Spray Paint Makeover Petticoat Junktion

The chairs are super comfortable and they swivel and rock. The original mesh in the seats gave out several years ago. At the time I decided to redo the seats. Boy was that a job. I searched the fabric stores for outdoor fabric to match the 90’s blue color of the frame. I found one design at the time and when I looked for similar fabric recently I didn’t have any luck.

Removing the original fabric from the tubing and replacing it with the new fabric was very, very, difficult. I’m sure there is a special tool just for this type project but I love doing things the hard way. Once…..never again.

Old Metal Outdoor Furniture Before Makeover Petticoat Junktion

When the replacement fabric on two of the chairs gave out we tossed the chairs. I know…..bad.

IMG_9432

The paint on the chairs and table is faded and a little grungy. Well, guess what….I painted over it all….no cleaning…..who has time for that. You would never know all that grunge is under the new coat of paint.

Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint Petticoat JUnktion project

The miracle worker is RustOleum Metallic Spray Paint. It’s a paint and primer in one and the color is Oil Rubbed Bronze (Amazon affiliate link, read the disclosure here).

Spray Paint Project in Progress

Project – Paint Metal Patio Furniture

I tested the paint on the fabric to be sure it was fabric friendly and wouldn’t become hard or flake off. The fabric is plastic or Teflon coated…. or something. I checked the fabric the next day and the paint adhered just fine and it didn’t make the fabric feel funny. I decided the project was a go.

How To Spray Paint Mesh And Metal Outdoor Patio Furniture Petticoat Junktion

The chair turned out beautifully. I love RustOleum spray paint. It sprays evenly and covers so well. I had that chair painted in about 15 minutes, top to bottom and back to front!

chair four

Now I need to paint the other chair and the table. We have two hard plastic outdoor chairs that are a really dark gray/black and the oil rubbed bronze color matches those chairs pretty well. So we have a set of four chairs for the table.

Spray Paint Metal Patio Furniture Petticoat Junktion before and after makeover project

It took one can of spray paint to cover the chair. You may be able to get by with less. I tend to go a little nuts with spray paint….overkill for sure. Since replacement chairs cost much more than a can of spray paint, it’s a win-win.

I painted a vintage glider recently. You have to see it and the color I chose. Click here….Vintage Metal Glider.

Time to take the “Outdoor” tour. Click the photos below. Let me know which is your fav makeover. Have a great day and I’ll see you next week!

Comments

  1. What an improvement! Spray paint works wonders, doesn’t it?

    The seats on our outdoor chairs are wearing out and I’ve got to figure out how to replace them. I’m kind of bummed that you know from experience that it isn’t an easy job.

  2. I’ve used this paint before. It works great, but my only complaint would be that the colors it comes in are so limited. Great project!

  4. I would love a tutorial on how to change the fabric on the chairs and where to find the fabric! We have the same chairs and one of ours tore in the seat! Yikes! I’d love to re-do and save some money! I’m thinking I will paint our chairs too! Love this idea! I had no idea you could paint the fabric and it would stay! Bonus!

    • Shane, I replaced the fabric years ago….way before I started this blog. It was very time consuming and hard to get the fabric in the channels and stretched really tight. The best I remember it involved sewing the fabric around the piece that fits in the channel and then feeding the two pieces into each side. Wish I did have a tutorial for you. I bet you can find one on Google!

  7. I used to have chairs similar to that and gave them to my son. I’m definitely showing him how he can refresh them in a new color that works better with his new house. They don’t make them like that anymore so it’s worth the refresh rather than replacing them. Gotta love Rust-oleum spray paint – it’s my go-to paint as well!

  9. Kathy,
    My table matches your chair. Great minds think alike. I love the paint you chose too. I would love to share a ice cold glass of lemonade with you this summer sitting in your freshly painted chair. Fabulous!
    Happy Creating Darlin’,
    Karen Marie

  15. I think you’re right, that was a win-win!!! Chair looks great and how nice not to have to mess with the fabric again! Good Job!

  17. Hahaha… I tend to go crazy with spray paint too. Thankfully it’s not expensive! I love the new dark look on your chair. I’m sure when the rest of the set is finished it will look fabulous all together. <3

  18. It’s good to know the paint will cover the mesh fabric. I had wondered about using it on a fabric like that. Thanks for testing it out! It looks great!

  19. I have a green metal outdoor table I want to paint, but I am hesitant because it has a glass top. I am trying to figure if I should just tape and cover or take off the glass, any ideas.
    Love your site.

    • Hi Sue, My table also has a glass top and when it gets cool enough outside (if ever) I’m going to tape that sucker off and paint it with the glass in place. Hope this helps. Thank you for the sweet comment!

  22. Oh Kathy- this looks fabulous.
    I can’t even imagine how hard it was to replace the ‘fabric’.
    Thank you for sharing this at Thoughts of Home.
    We are so glad you are here.

    Laura
    White Spray Paint

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