bargain shopping and spray paint: DIY patio furniture

Thrift stores, Craigslist, and garage sales are my first stops when our household is in need of items, especially “want” items. In this case, it was patio furniture. There are hundreds of fun and beautiful patio sets but has anyone noticed how pricey they are?!? My husband was set on a cast iron set, which of course is one of the most expensive. We started to look around and price the items and they ranged from $400-900! With me being a cheap skate, I took on the challenge to find our very own cast iron patio set with a price we could afford.

We first started looking at stores at the end of the summer/fall season. Most patio furniture around this time of year goes on sale for 50% or more off! This is where we found out table for 75% off. There was nothing wrong with it except, the picture showed a stone top and it is actually a glass top. Next, I was on the hunt for chairs. This did take some time, so you must have patience. I found one chair at a garage sale, four on Craigslist, and one at a thrift store. Here is where the power of spray paint comes in. All but one chair was white and we wanted black so I started to paint.

Here is what you will need:

• wire brush
• Outdoor/rust protective spray paint

First, you will want to use the wire brush and scrape off any paint that is flaking off. I like to wipe down or in this case spray off with a garden hose to get all dust particles off the chairs. Once the chairs were dry, I started spraying. To spray paint five chairs it took about six cans of paint. Make sure you are in a well ventilated area. When the paint is dry on the chairs, I like to do another wipe down with a damp cloth.

Here is our finished product for a 1/4 of the cost!