Patio Chairs Prettily Painted

2 Materials
I was on a swap site close to my home and noticed a set of patio chairs for sale. I knew these had potential to look great again. They looked to be an expensive set at one time and I had looked for some of these comfortable swivel rockers last year and I knew how expensive they were. So I just happened to comment on the post that whoever bought them could PM me and I'd tell them how they could paint them. A funny thing happened. The lady selling them PM'd me. Long story short....she removed her post....hired me to paint them for her....and is planning an in-home painting class this summer. She was thrilled with the final result and was hoping to get at least two more years out of them as they were going to be selling and moving closer to a daughter in another state. So, this was a win-win for both of us.



As you can see, even though the metal was in great shape and only needing painting, the fabric on some of the chairs was pretty threadbare in areas. It would be good to note that if you are planning on painting patio furniture fabric, you'll have even more success than we did with these. They turned out very nice, but some were pretty threadbare and that still shows.




What I did next is not what you want to do next. On the first chair I painted the metal black first. That was a mistake. Why? Because when you paint fabric, you'll want to wet the chair down first and then add some water to your paint - in this case we used the Missouri Limestone Paint Company chalk-based paint that we sell in the color "Crisp Kale". So.....when painting with watered down paint, you're going to to get that watered down mess all over your freshly painted black metal! What was I thinking? That one had to have metal repainted in many areas. So....moral of that story is paint the fabric first. I also taped off the first one. I didn't need to do that at all. My chippy brush allowed me to paint the black and not touch the green fabric, so no tape was used on the other chairs. There were a couple of chairs that were really pretty threadbare. I had read that you could repair those with Bondo. I did that and those areas turned out ok and the paint covered them well, but I would recommend only using it if you had a small hole to fix. I wouldn't do larger areas again.I never use a roller when I paint with chalk-based paint but for the first coat on these chairs I did since the paint was watered down. That really helped the paint get into the threads of the fabric and adhere. I did two more coats, using a brush for them and that worked out great!There is no need to seal chalk-based paint for outside furniture. The sun and heat cures the paint and makes it very durable.




Were they perfect after painting? No, not by any means. Will they hold up for my client for a few years. Yes, they should work out just fine for her. Are people going to be going up and getting eye to eye with the chairs and searching for flaws? I hope not. : ) Or, will they see the overall picture of the bright and cheerful patio chair set on her patio and wish they had one just like it. That's what I'm hoping for! In the natural light and with the grass peeking through and trees starting to bud out in Missouri, the set looks beautiful on her deck, don't you think?


Suggested materials:
  • Missouri Limestone Paint Company chalk-based paint   (we are distributors)
  • A little Bondo   (Lowe's)
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  1 question
  • Too7320683 Too7320683 on Nov 09, 2017

    Does it have to be chalk based paint on the webbing of the chairs or can you use spray paint?

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