I bought this metal ‘loveseat’ garden bench from Dunelm probably 5 years ago now & it has stood the test of time out in the open for as long as I’ve owned it.
This year I felt like it had reached the point of no return with rust all over it & flaking paint making it pretty much unusable seeing as if you sat on it you’d probably end up with an orange rusty bottom.
Considering it was destined to be taken to the tip, I decided I had nothing to lose & would give it a bit of a makeover to see if I could return it to it’s former glory.
Here’s how I did it –
- Using a wire brush, remove all the flaking paint – this is hugely important so make sure not to rush. Every single last bit of paint needs to be removed if it’s going to be coming off anytime soon. This was fairly easy for me as it was in such a bad condition so chunks were basically hanging off.
2. Lightly sand using a fine grit sandpaper – because some areas are left with little/no paint, it’s important to try to even this out slightly as well as provide the right surface for paint or spray paint to stick on to.
3. Clean using a sugar soap solution – now is time to get rid of all the dirt & dust left behind from the sanding & wire brushing.
4. Get spraying! – Once dry you can start with your first coat of paint. I went with spray paint as I didn’t fancy painting all those nooks & crannies but you could go with normal paint & a paint brush if you have the patience of a saint. Make sure to go for a good quality exterior paint; I used Rust-Oleum all purpose in ‘Heirloom White’ available here & ended up using 2 coats. This can be quite messy so go for a day with little wind & in an area that doesn’t matter too much.
5. Give it a second/third/however many coat – we ended up doing 2 full coats then a touchup on other areas before running out of spray paint & saying that it ‘would do’ considering it was just going to be left outside to return to it’s previous state anyway & we wanted it to look fairly rustic.
Et voila – it looks almost as good as new!
Love,
Looks fabulous! Nice job! Would have been a shame to tip it!
Oh definitely! It’s amazing what a big of elbow grease & a can of spray paint can fix x
What a great job, such a transformation, I love how you just tackle anything and turn it in to gold x
Thanks lovely – so pleased with how it turned out x
Love this, looks so pretty ?
Thanks Roisin! x
Is your name really Amor Valentine or is that a pen name?
Yes it is! Well, my maiden name was Amor & my married name is Valentine x
Fab job as usual ??
OMG! You must have read my mind! I have a large wrought iron table and chairs ( dark) I want to transform into grey , would this work do you think? Thank you , julie xx
I think it would need quite a few layers of spray paint but it would definitely cover! Just remember to keep it thin & multiple rather than thick coats as it’ll run x