The Mad House has a beautiful backyard and a spacious slab patio. That nice of a yard deserved an equally nice patio set. Unfortunately, the budget didn’t make room for a brand new set from the store, so we turned to Craigslist and new Krylon Rust Protector to get the job done.
This is what our patio set has looked like since we moved into The Mad House. Hey. I can hear you laughing.
The set itself (minus the umbrella) was a gift from my parents for my birthday. My mom is a Craigslist Ninja and found the set for $50, cushions included. The umbrella is my own sad addition. After pricing out real patio set umbrellas ($90, are you serious?), I bought a cheapo beach umbrella from Walmart and jammed it in our umbrella stand. Kind of trashy, but it did the job.
You can see that the finish of the paint was in pretty bad shape. The color was faded, quite a few areas were chipping, and there was the beginning of rust spots in some areas.
I had planned to paint the set this summer anyway, but when Krylon contacted me about reviewing their new Rust Protector line of spray paints, I knew the set would be a perfect test subject. We don’t have a cover for the patio furniture, so whatever paint I used needed to withstand the four seasons of our Michigan climate.
The Rust Protector paint comes in a wide variety of colors and finishes. I opted to use Krylon’s Oil Rubbed Bronze because I have used that color in the past with fantastic results (Plastic Toy Bookends, Typographic Art Globe, PB-Inspired Lamp). The almost-black paint is flecked with warm gold metallic flecks. Very elegant.
Before I began painting, I went over the whole patio set with steel wool. This not only removed any paint that was beginning to chip, it also roughed up the surface for better paint adhesion. After that I wiped the set down to remove paint dust, dirt, and cobwebs.
I was very impressed with the coverage from the Krylon Rust Protector. I was able to cover the whole set in just one coat, with minor touch-up (from areas I had missed). The paint took a bit longer than 8 minutes to fully dry, but the weather was on the humid side while I was working.
Sometimes when I am spray painting I purposefully neglect the underside of the piece. It saves on time and paint. Since I was using the Krylon Rust Protector to protect the patio set from the elements, however, I made sure to thoroughly coat all the metal parts of the set. The Rust Protector paint is meant to be corrison-resistant. I didn’t do a scratch test personally, but the finish is very hard and tough even on the areas where there was some chipping previously.
These two chairs had similar amounts of damage, and you can see how well the paint covered the chips and camouflaged the the wear and tear.
The side by side comparison is my favorite. There was nothing really wrong with the green color that the set had been painted, but the Oil Rubbed Bronze is much more sophisticated and expensive-looking.
The before and after is really more striking in person. It looks like a brand new set of furniture!
I replaced the Walmart beach umbrella with an actual patio umbrella I scored at a garage sale for $5. I think the colors of the umbrella and the patio set blend nicely with the exterior of our home.
The patio table is large enough to comfortably seat five adults for dinner and still have room for a wee bit of decoration.
If it isn’t too beastly hot outside over the long weekend, I think we will break in our updated patio with some grilling and relaxing.
Whether we were eating hamburgers or hot dogs, my grandma would always quip, “You can’t beat this All-American cuisine.”
How do you celebrate Labor Day? Picnic or cookout? Or are you spending the whole weekend DIYing?!
Full disclosure HERE.
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