Spring has sprung (for most of us) and I know a lot of you are starting to think about fluffing your outdoor areas. Last week, I shared my front porch revamp project and I promised I would be back today and share the tutorials for what I do year to year when it comes to the best products for painting outdoor furniture, accessories and garden planters.
Over the years, I have pretty much painted everything that you can imagine to update and refresh my outdoor pieces. Â In fact, some of my pieces have been painted so many times that I lost count. Â If you use the right paint and do good prep work, your pieces can look like new every year! Â I only use spray paint on outdoor pieces because the finish is far more durable than traditional latex paints. Â It’s also so much faster too!
This year, I only painted the metal pieces that you see. Â Everything else was painted last year or the year before. Â I’m breaking this post down by the types of things that you might want to paint.
Outdoor Metal Pieces
Whether metal is rusted or not rusted, you can paint it quickly with spray paint. Â If you use a great primer with rust inhibitor, you will extend the life of the finish as well.
I was really excited to see how amazing my rusted metal plant holder turned out. Â This is what it looked like before I sprayed it. Â It was rusted out pretty bad:
and this is what it looked like after I primed and sprayed it in chrome:
I also sprayed this tall candle holder that was also rusted (sorry I do not have a before picture)
Again, using a stop rust primer-paint inhibitor is the key when it comes to painting metal pieces. Â I prefer Rust-oleum products for inhibitor primers as my base coat. Â For pieces that are rusted, all you have to do is lightly sand the piece (takes just a couple minutes to get the flakes of rust off) and then spray with a rust inhibited primer. Â This basically stops rust in its tracks and seals it in. Â Then you can do your top coat.
The chrome color top coat that I used is actually an automotive spray paint called Dupli-color in the color chrome. Â I think it’s the best colored chrome out there and it looks like real chrome instead of a shiny silver:
Normally I use Rust-oleum products for my top coats (which are also great) but I have been using automotive spray paints more and more because I think they will last longer and weather the elements better as a top coat for metal pieces. You can pick up Dupli-Color at any auto part store and the color selection is amazing. Â I wrote a post here about using automotive spray paints if you’re interested in learning more. Â Below is an image from that post highlighting how it’s being used in some creative ways:
This year, I also sprayed my cast iron candle stick with a rust inhibitor primer and the top coat was a high gloss:
Outdoor Wood and Furniture Pieces
Last year, I painted several of the pieces that you see on my porch and I have been so impressed with how well everything has held up.  I wrote a tutorial last year on how I spray painted my outdoor furniture and planters here.
I think the most important thing about spray painting outdoor furniture to ensure that it lasts a long time is to use a good spray primer. Â I prefer Rust-oluem Painter’s Touch:
The top coat isn’t as important as the prep and base coat in my opinion. Â My bench was painted two years ago it’s held up in so well in the Texas heat and humidity:
Ceramics and Garden Pots
It’s amazing what you can spray paint and when it comes to ceramics and fiberglass garden pots, you can instantly try out a fun new color or freshen up the finish. Â I treat ceramic pots the same way I would fiberglass garden pots when it comes to spray paint. Â I use a good primer like Rust-oleum Painter’s touch and let the primer dry completely before doing the top coat. Â As far as top coats go, anything will work and I choose the brand based on the color I want.
If you can believe this, I painted this 15 year old fiberglass garden pot a couple of years ago and it was in really bad shape and as you can see, it looked like new with a fresh coat of spray paint:
The great thing about using spray paint on old beat up pieces like fiberglass is that the paint works as a sealant and stops the deterioration.
I think that about covers it. Â Happy spring fluffing and happy painting!
Cheers!
Cyndy
Marty@A Stroll Thru Life says
I love your porch and everything looks so fresh and pretty. Great choice of paint colors. I would love for you to link up to my Inspire Me party that goes lives this afternoon at 3:00 PM. http://www.astrollthrulife.net. Hope to see you three. Hugs, Marty
Lauren@simplylkj says
Everything looks fantastic! Love spray paint.
sherry hart says
I was just thinking that I need to finish painting my outdoor furniture. I started last year and never finished! Just waiting for the yellow pollen to go away:) Your porch looks great!
Megan @ Our PInteresting Family says
It looks lovely, Cyndy. You have such an inviting front porch. Spray paint is certainly a great way to give things a new life. 🙂
Laura Flowers says
What color and brand paint did you use on green candlestick? I would love to copy on some metal chairs. Thanks!
Christine says
This is a great post! I have lovely wrought iron furniture that’s been rusting and I just hesitated to attempt it. Now, (great, another project) I’ll handle this this summer. Probably in some great, automotive colors! 🙂
I painted some plastic pots a few years ago with the Krylon paints that talked about bonding with plastic. I agree that prep is THE key to a good finish, but I can tell you I won’t choose Krylon for this again. 2 years later they were peeling. Unfortunately, the original color clashes badly with its new color! I like the pots, so getting that off to try again will also be a project.
Your porch is very lovely and peaceful. You always do a lovely job!
SANDI says
WHAT COLOR, AND PAINT DID YOU — USE FOR YOUR BENCH? I JUST LOVE IT!
THANK YOU.
Betty McIlwaine says
Your article on painting fibreglass pots sounds great. I want to paint a table
that I had thought was cast iron, but the original paint has flaked badly and I would love to revamp it.
I suppose I will need to flake it all off and begin with a clean slate, and then prime it with something before painting. It was originally charcoal colour but
the fibreglass is a sort of pale grey. I would like it to be a nice bright aqua.
I would be happy for any information you might have for me. Thank you xxx
Wendy says
So pretty!!! Where did you get your super cute bench?
carla Michele says
im interested in painting my daughter’s hard plastic swing set slide. Do you know if the auto paint, applied after priming it, will adhere and stay properly?