A couple of Summers ago we purchased new a outdoor dining room table + two benches and 2 chairs for our large patio from West Elm. I LOVE clean modern lines of our patio, perfect reflection of my style California Modern Casual. I also loved how many people our patio table sits, I really wanted a large patio table that sat more than 6! However, over the past two Summers the dark finish faded dramatically. The top of the table looked worn and had a several sun stains. Friends, this set wasn't cheap. I was seriously bummed, I know we have crazy hot Summers here which can lead to items that are outdoors getting faded fast. But Still. Here's my sad table, right before I got to work giving it new life.
This is THE Spring, Summer & Fall (we have Indian Summers here) where I really want to enjoy our outdoor spaces as an extension of our home. As a small home dweller, I love the fact that during the nice weather our house practically doubles in size thanks to our outdoor living spaces. We have two patios in our backyard a large one with a pergola and a smaller more intimate one just off our bedroom.
A few weeks ago, I decided to give our outdoor dining room a makeover. I thought about re-staining our set, but decided paint would give me the 'look' I wanted. A few months back, I received a HomeRight Finish Max Airless Paint Sprayer to try and out at share with my readers.
To get started on giving my outdoor dining furniture a complete makeover, I gave everything a good cleaning and then used an electric sander to remove the old finish. I used a wood filler fill any cracks on the top of the table and then sanded the top of the table again. In the picture below snapped with my phone you can see the old finish was sanded down and the places I added the wood filler. As you can see the top was badly discolored and looked awful.
I wanted to make sure my patio furniture came out really nice so I opted to first spray everything with a coat of primer. Before spraying my furniture using the Home Right, I carefully read the directions. I was nervous about thinning the paint to make it thin enough to spray but thankfully the guide that's provided helps the process make sense. I also checked out a few other bloggers sites to get to know my new paint sprayer which is now my favorite way to paint even better, I enjoyed reading Brynne's post from The Gathered Home about her experience with her paint sprayer.
After I thinned the paint per the instructions, I tested sprayer on an old cardboard box. Doing a test run was so helpful, it allowed me to get more comfortable tackling the entire project. Within minutes, I felt confidant in using the HomeRight sprayer and honestly shocked by how easy it was!
After letting the primer dry, I cleaned up the paint sprayer (make sure you clean your sprayer right after your done using it, you don't want any parts to get clogged!) I cleaned my sprayer using warm water and then made sure the paint sprayer sprayed clear clean water, before moving to the next step. I painted our dining room patio furniture Black Onyx by Glidden (exterior paint in , it's such a pretty black color and not the typical black flat color. The Black Oynx is a deep dark rich feeling black. I sprayed 4 medium coats of paint of my patio furniture allowing each coat to dry 15-20 mins before applying the next. I used both my HomeRight sprayer and a mini sponge roller to paint the top of my dining room table and chair seats applying another 3 coats to make sure the 'hard working' parts received the most coverage.
Quick Tips to Give your Patio Furniture a Professional After
- Prep! Clean your furniture and make sure its free of debris and dirt
- Sand the your furniture down & remove the old finish]
- Apply a High Quality wood filler and apply to any cracks in the wood. allow to dry and then sand again.
- Prime your furniture using stain blocking primer
- Use exterior paint
- Thin to Medium Coats! Spray in sweeping stokes, start and end off the furniture
- Have a brush on hand for any paint drips! Also paint drips usually mean your over-spraying and need to lower the amount of paint coming out of the paint sprayer!
- Spray on a non-windy day if working outdoors
I'm in love with my dining room table makeover, the set looks so much better and honestly I love it more now than I did when we first bought it home!! I'm super impressed with how easy the HomeRight Finish Max was to use, seriously super easy including thinning the paint. The paint sprayer really gave my patio table a smooth and professional finish! I'm so thrilled our patio table & chairs look brand new. I'm also smitten with the rich deep dark black paint I choose, it looks fantastic on our patio, I love the mix of whites + blacks + greys we have outdoors.
Pardon our dust in the pictures below (we've been working on building planters and there's sawdust everywhere including my table!)
Did you spot the baskets hanging out on my DIY BBQ Grill Cart (read more about the project here) Soon those baskets will be turned into outdoor lighting and hang from my pergola! I can't wait to tackle that project. Also a few weeks back, we ordered patio furniture: two chairs and a sofa, its going to be a game changer for our space and truly make our patio into an outdoor living area!
After owing our house for years, I finally nailed down my backyard vibe and style, tomorrow I'm sharing my backyard & patio inspiration and plans!
Have you used a paint sprayer to give your furniture a face lift? What do you think of my new-to-us once again patio table?
