The fresh sea air is one the nicest things about Southampton, but it takes its toll on outdoor fixtures and furniture. When we set the table on the back porch for our first outdoor lunch of the season, we noticed that our dining chairs were looking pretty shabby. Their powder-coated finish had faded, and rust was starting to eat away at the wire mesh seats. We half-heartedly looked at replacements, but the chairs were still sturdy and comfortable, so I thought I’d try my hand at painting them before we gave up on them altogether.
So armed with a wire brush and a vague notion that Rust-Oleum spray paint was good for this sort of thing, I set to work. First I brushed off the loose rust and wiped the chairs clean with a tack cloth. Then I primed them a flat white. (This actually looked pretty good, but anyone who has white painted outdoor furniture at the beach needs his head examined –or a painter on staff.) The fumes were too much for the basement, so I turned the garden shed into my temporary paint shop.
We tried a couple of colors. “Antique nickel” seemed too dark and a bit dull.
“Aluminum” was livelier –and a safe choice– but I figured that if I was going to risk asphyxiation to spray paint eight chairs, the end result should be more special.
So we settled on a bright orange (called “orange”). We really like it. It’s lively, picks up the orange in the striped cushions we use on other outdoor furniture and contrasts nicely with the green lawn and hedges and blue pool. And I almost have all the orange paint off my toenails.
