Metal Outside Table and Chair Makeover

Hi All,

So this project I had thought was going to take about 3 days to complete. It was a fun project, though it turned into a week long project because of weather delays. I enjoy being able to put my random crafting skills to use to help my friends when I can. For this project I turned some well loved very faded orange outdoor chairs/table into a revived vintage set that will have many years of life ahead of it still. The family I did this for use these often to watch their kids play in front of their house. So this is a curb appeal piece as well.

Supplies:

• Metal Chair/Table in need of TLC
• Screwdriver set/tools to take apart furniture (Varies depending on your piece)
• Cardboard or protected painting surface (In my case my kids had drawn on the cardboard first while it waiting to be put to other uses.)
• Paint (I Choose to use:)
  • Rust-Oleum High Performance in Flat White
  • Rust-Oleum Gloss Protective Enamel in Lagoon
  • Rust-Oleum Lacquer in Clear (A high gloss finish)
• Most of all Patience (This is mostly as a reminder to me since I always want to rush ahead in a project and some things like painting, shouldn’t be rushed. You’ll end up taking more time because you’ll have to fix it.)
• Optional – Wall Stamp (www.originalwallstamp.com the one pictured is called Couture) along with the paint and brush/roller needed to use. (See video below.)

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Instructions:

Day 1

1. First things first, I always say. I took all the hardware off and cleaned the pieces after to make sure all the dirt was removed and it could get the cleanest most even coat of paint that wouldn’t flake off because of dirt. It can also make it bumpy or grainy. Just all around not advantageous to have under fresh paint.
2. Once it was fully dry I placed on cardboard and spray painted the pieces individually in my driveway. I had to be careful though since the weather decided that wind was handy the days I was doing this. I didn’t want the paint to go on my house or the neighbor’s. After waiting about 20 minutes I painted a second coat to get even coverage that would last.
3. I let this dry for a full 6 hours before turning over to paint the other sides of all the pieces. Again waiting 20 minutes before applying the second coat. I then left it to dry over night.

Day 2

1. ****Intermission – It decided to rain the next morning so I had to wait for better weather since I don’t like to spray paint in my garage. I store too many other things in there and don’t want my holiday decorations or other things inadvertently painted.**** The rain… I thought had stopped so got everything ready again for another round. I wanted to touch up a couple of spots of the lagoon color and start on clear coats for the white stuff… halfway through the wind kicked up. If paint is in the drying getting ready to set stage… it will crackle if it gets blown on too soon with moisture in the air. (See pics.) I then had to wait for it to dry and then had to sand, and then touch up those areas of paint again. This is why I say patience. I’m really not good at waiting. LOL If I had waited then I wouldn’t have had to do touch ups. It also started to rain again so had to drag it all back in the garage again. Sometimes timing of weather stinks when doing projects like this.
2. Touch ups now done…whew…time for a much deserved break.

Day 3

1. I have this cool stamp that is for paint. I put the same white paint on the stamp that I used for the table and arms, simply stamped it on the backs and allowed it to dry for a full 4 hours at least. (I actually waited until the next day because of the weather to continue the project. It started to get windy again.) Since I was using spray paint, the Lagoon color on the table I actually sprayed into a small recycled bowl while having a paper towel over the top to keep the paint in the bowl. Then I used a small paint brush working quickly to put the paint in the desired area of the stamp, placed it on the table top, pressed firmly, and then lifted. Then use a small brush to touch up anywhere you think it needs. For the back of the chairs I actually just used household semi gloss paint in the same color white. I knew it was going to be covered by a lacquer finish so the difference in sheen wouldn’t be apparent. Here is a video of me actually using the stamp on to place the stamp on the front backs of the chairs:

Day 4/5

1. I applied 3 coats of clear lacquer waiting the recommended 3 to 5 minutes between coats. In reality by the time I got to the end of the last piece it was time to start on the first again…. which I say worked out well for timing. I then let it dry for a full 6 hours and again painted the other side in the same fashion. (Based on kids…. what reeeeeaaaaaally happened is an overnight break. lol!) And then another day of rain where I couldn’t work on this project…. some weekend project this turned out to be. lol.

Day 6

1. Reassembled all the pieces using the same hardware I had removed. Now it’s ready to be enjoyed by my friend’s family again with renewed life.

Here is a picture collage of the whole process start to finish:

Again this was super fun to do, if a bit frustrating due to the weather. I hope you get inspired to give some love back to some much loved furniture of your own. Have a great day, and keep creating!!