Painting cast iron furniture isn’t difficult. It just takes a little time and patience. This DIY project can be done in a weekend. When you are finished you’ll have beautiful cast iron furniture that you’ll be proud to show off. Painting cast iron furniture is a smart, money saving way to bring a fresh look to your outdoor entertaining areas.
Painting cast iron furniture is done in just a few steps. You’ll need to clean, scrape, prime, paint and seal your furniture. Here’s the how to on painting your cast iron furniture.
Clean It Up
Nothing beats a good power wash. Power wash the furniture first. It will remove mold and mildew and get your cast iron furniture prepped to scrape and paint. Use a little bleach in your water to kill the bacteria and mold. Be sure and wash the top and bottom of your furniture. If you don’t have a power washer then you can buy a spray attachment for your water hose. Get one that has a bleach bottle attachment. After washing the furniture, let it dry in the sun.
Scrape it Down
Painting cast iron furniture starts with a good scrape down. Use a wire brush to get the big rust spots off your furniture. You can use a sander too for a finer scrape down. You don’t need to remove all the old paint, but you do need to get as much of the rust off as you can. When you are done scraping your furniture, then use a dry paint brush to remove all the flecks of loose paint and rust.
Prime It Up
The next step in painting cast iron furniture is priming it. Wear a breathing mask while use spray primer, paint or polyurethane. Use a good spray primer in a well ventilated area. Spray the top and bottom of your furniture. Krylon makes a good spray primer that goes on smooth. Swing your can back and forth, left and right until you have covered all the furniture with your primer. Allow it to dry for a couple of hours before moving on to the next step.
Paint It
With this step you are that much closer to painting your cast iron furniture. Select a quality spray paint. Again, Krylon has some great colors. Select a shade that will compliment your garden. Forest green and black are the two most popular shades. But also popular colors are blues, pinks and reds. Painting your cast iron furniture with spray paint is fast and will give you a good coverage. Apply it in two coats letting it dry in between coats. Again spray paint should be used in a well ventilated area.
Protect It
Painting your cast iron furniture is done, now you have to protect it. Use a polyurethane spray to give your cast iron furniture a layer of protection and some smooth coverage.
Maintenance For Your Furniture
About every 3 to 6 months power wash your furniture to keep mold and mildew from returning and growing on your beautiful new furniture.
