Finding the right set of table and chairs for your patio is no small task. When a homeowner realized her perfect set was starting to rust and show its age, standing out from the rest of her beautiful backyard, she knew a fresh coat of paint was in order. With the help of paint expert Mauro Henrique, the two restore the patio furniture with a bit of prep work and the right paint.
How to Paint Rusty Patio Furniture
- Start by preparing the area by covering any surfaces you don’t want to paint with drop cloths.
- Next, using painter’s tape, tape everything you won’t be painting. This includes the top, sides, and bottom of the chairs.
- Use a flexible sanding or scouring pad to remove any of the loose debris and to clean up some of the rust.
- Use a wet-dry vacuum to remove any of the dust and residue that sanding might have caused. Once vacuumed, wipe the furniture with a rag and denatured alcohol.
- Use a rust spot primer made for metal. Spray only the rust spots. The rest will be primed in the next step.
- Spray a coat of standard primer onto the metal surfaces. Make sure not to prime over the rust primer. Let the surface dry for 30 minutes.
- Use the paint roller to apply DTM (direct to metal) paint. DTM paint should go on green but quickly turn black, if that’s the desired color. For tougher to reach areas, use a paint brush and a light touch to coat the surface.
- Allow the paint to dry for about two hours, or according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Pro Tip: The approach differs depending on your metal type. For wrought iron or tubular steel, use a wire brush and sandpaper to sand rust spots down to bare metal before priming. For aluminum furniture, however, This Old House Magazine advises simply roughing up the surface with 100-grit sandpaper, smoothing with 220-grit, and applying an exterior-grade acrylic enamel paint directly — no primer needed.
For stubborn rust that sanding alone can’t fully remove, consider using a phosphoric acid–based rust converter such as Ospho. According to a technique featured in This Old House Magazine, spraying exposed metal with phosphoric acid “converts any rust you’ve missed or can’t reach into a black, inert crust of iron phosphate.” Be sure to protect your eyes, skin, and lungs from the spray, and wait a full day for the acid to penetrate and react before brushing away loose flakes and proceeding with primer.
Materials
- Painter’s tape
- Drop cloths
- Plastic sheeting
- Rags
- Shims
- Microfiber cloths
- Denatured alcohol
- Rust primer
- Metal primer
- DTM paint
- Paint sticks
Tools
Resources
To Prep:
To Sand Off Rust:
To Clean Debris:
- Shop vac
- Denatured alcohol
- Nitrile gloves – denatured alcohol can irritate skin
- Microfiber cloths or lint-free cloths
To Prime:
- Rusty metal primer spray – spot prime rusted areas only
- Interior/exterior primer spray – optional to spot prime the non-rusted areas. Gray was used for this project since it’s better suited for dark color topcoat paints
- Shims – to prop furniture up
- Safety glasses
- N95 masks
To Paint:
