Our hosting service had technical difficulties and was down when this post was scheduled to publish early Friday morning. The service is back up now so, hopefully, it will be posted as rescheduled. That is why you’re reading it on Saturday instead of Friday! Thanks for understanding.
I was pleasantly surprised by the great responses I received to my Spray It, Don’t Pay It post. I thought it was a “niche” post but it turns out a lot more of you are interested and intrigued with using spray paint to change things up than I would have guessed. So today I’m offering up another DIY inspiration for using spray paint.
Spray From Little to Big
While I was spray painting the small items shown in my previous post (the soap dish and toilet pull), my husband tackled bigger items. He totally spray painted a pair of patio sling chairs. Had he told me ahead of time about his plan to change the chairs from beige to bronze with spray paint there’s a good chance I would have tried to talk him out of it. Hmmmmm, maybe that’s why he didn’t say anything?!?
It’s not that the chairs didn’t need a color change. The years-old beige looked boring and years-old! Once upon a time the beige looked good against the darker, muted green wood of our previous home - but the chair color was just too light against the light stucco color of our new house. Here’s what the chairs looked like before my husband started his spray paint adventure.
"Before" beige sling back patio chair.
Here’s what they looked like after my husband got his hands on the can of Rust-Oleum Metallic All-Surface Paint in ”Oil Rubbed Bronze” color. Thechairs look good – they’re fresher and more contemporary against our light stucco and dark balcony railing. It’s important to note that prior to painting he gave the chairs a good cleaning, scrubbing them down with a soft brush and a bucket full of warm water and liquid dish soap. You’ve got to have a clean surface for the paint to adhere evenly.
"After" bronze now instead of beige!
"After" from another angle.
Why would I have perhaps tried to talk my husband out of spray painting the chairs? Only because I would have doubted that the sling back material would paint well – as you can see in the close-up “before” photo it’s a woven type material. My hesitancy might have prevented a very successful transformation. Take a look at the close-up “after” photo and you’ll see the woven material took the color very well – and it’s held up well to our usage this summer.
"Before" woven slingback material on chair.
"After" woven slingback material on chair.
So there you have it – a beige to bronze revival of a standard sling back patio chair. Guess the moral to the story is, don’t be afraid to spray on!
Spray then sit back and enjoy!
And You?
Have any of you finished the spray paint projects you wrote me about a couple of weeks ago? I’d love to hear (or better yet, see) how they turned out – whether big or small. Click the Comment link below and leave a note about what you’ve been spray painting – or email a message and some photos to solutions@yourdecoratinghotline.com. I’d love to hear your spray paint adventure.
I’d also love to hear your feedback about Your Decorating Hotline. If you haven’t taken our easy 10 question survey, please do so. Just a few minutes of your time can make a difference in blog content for months to come! Just click the big “Take Our Survey” button on the right hand sidebar of this page. Thanks!
RSS Feeds
Yep, after twenty years of complaining about our ugly mirror above the fireplace, we took it down and gave it a new look. The ugly gold frame is now brown and looks more like a wood frame and it is such a good contrast color to the wall. My home is simple but this did class up the living room just a bit. Thanks Cindy!
Recently spray painted some very old convoluted style metal railings with a Tremclad product. took us a lot longer than we thought – We switched to spray painting instead of a painting by brush which was way too slow!! Turned out fine and saved us valuable time as well!
Got to tell you that i loved your post–even shared it with my husband–both of us were impressed with your husband’s spray painting talents. The chair turned out great and looks so great in its new surroundings.