Outdoor Chair Makeover

These chairs have needed my attention for quite a while. They were still in sturdy shape, so I knew they had a little life left in them. They just looked terribly worn out.

…I’m just now realizing that I intended to use my new paint sprayer on this project, but I completely forgot. 🤦‍♀️ If you have a paint sprayer, you could do this much more quickly, but I used a cheap brush. You could also use painters tape if you need help with a clean edge between the different paint colors, but I always find I do okay with just a simple little craft brush to make clean lines.

Step 1: Sand and clean chairs. I took my handheld sander and went over every part of the chairs that I could. I used 80 grit sandpaper but only needed one sheet.

There was some old stain peeling away that needed to be sanded. There were rough spots that I wanted smoother. And there were other places where the wood was just really worn and old, so I sanded those parts down too. Really, you want to sand all over at least a little bit to help the paint adhere.

Once the chairs were sanded, I wiped them down with a wet rag to get off cobwebs, dirt, dust, etc.

Step 2: Spray paint the hardest parts to paint first. Really, you could paint your outdoor chairs a bunch of different ways, but I focused on how the slats ran across the back and seat. The arms of the chairs and sides of the back and seat had pieces that ran a different way, so these slats seemed like they would look good as their own thing.

I went with black. You could use any color as long as it’s a paint that’s intended for outdoor use. I had some leftover black spray paint, so that’s what I used.

For these harder-to-do parts of the chairs, I definitely recommend spray paint (or a paint sprayer 🤦‍♀️). Spraying on the slats was easier than trying to use a brush and get around all the sides. It was definitely faster. Did this spray paint get on the other parts of the chairs that would be a different color? Sure. But I didn’t worry about this since I knew I’d be painting the other parts next and covering the black anyway.

Basically, start painting the chairs by using spray paint in the color that you want on the majority of the chair, or the most difficult-to-paint parts of the chair. Some might say to use the lighter color first so you can be sure your other paint color will cover it, but my lighter blue covered this black just fine. 🤷‍♀️

Another good reason to use spray paint first is because it dries quickly, helping you get to the next step.

Step 3: Paint the other chair parts. Once the tricky slats were painted, I took my lighter blue paint and used a brush to paint the arms of the chair, the bottom braces, and the side pieces around the seat and back. There wasn’t much need to spray this paint, since these sections were so large that a brush worked just fine. To paint where the blue met the black of the slats, I used a tiny craft brush and made clean lines of blue paint against the black.

If you use a spray for the rest of the chair too, you’ll need to cover the first painted areas and tape along the edges. That seemed like too much effort, and I figured that a brush would be faster than the prep required for my paint sprayer.

I did 2 coats of this light blue, just to be sure the coverage was good over the old wood. I also had a 5-year-old helper, so I went over her areas a few times. 😬

Step 4: Seal. Once all the paint was dry, I gave it overnight to gas off and settle in. The next day, I took a clear gloss spray paint and went over every inch of the chairs to seal and protect the paint.

Once that was dry, the chairs were done! These look so much better than before, and they go nicely with the blue decor I have on the rest of my deck. I like that painting them this way looks a little more interesting than just painting or staining them one solid color too.

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