Patio Botox

Our patio table needed a facelift. Well, maybe I can't call this project a full 'facelift', as it was quick, cheap, and meant to 'smooth out the wrinkles' in order to maintain the youthful appearance of the table.  I guess this was more like a patio table botox injection.

The table itself is pretty old, handed down to us in the Great Patio Furniture Switch of 2010, where my parents got new patio furniture, gave us their old stuff, and we in turn gave our high top bistro set to my brother and his wife.  A bunch of things in our home have been handed down to us from our families, leading me to term our décor style Castoff Chic. 


Anyway, the patio table is all metal, and the rust was starting to wear through, giving the otherwise green table a brown rusty sheen, depending upon the angle from which you viewed it.  See?

Nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix.

I love spray paint.  It almost makes me giddy that I can so easily change the appearance of something that I'm tired of into something fresh, new, and lovable again.  I love it so much that I bought seven cans of it this week, in preparation for a soon-to-be-revealed project.  Get excited, people. I know that I am!

So, I dragged the table out into the yard, gave it a quick once over with a wire brush to remove any loose paint, dirt, and cobwebs that may have clung to it. A quick spray with the hose to clean off any remaining debris was all that was needed before I was ready to spray away.

While it was empty, I also gave the patio a good cleaning with the hose.  It's amazing how much dirt spider webs dead bugs, crap accumulates in such short periods of time.  In fact, that's one of the reasons that I've resisted using outdoor cushions, pillows, rugs, and other items that I see others using in their outdoor spaces.  How do people keep all of those things clean, dry, and mildew free?  If there's a secret, I'd love to know it, because I think those accessories look great! But, there's no way that I'm bringing all of that in every time it rains,  and they seem to be a collecting place for dead bugs, leaves, or dirt, so I just skip them all together.  I'll admit, I do have a serious case of patio envy whenever I see a space that is basically an outdoor living room, though.

I used green Rustoleum spray paint, and was pleased with how quickly it covered the rust spots.  It took two coats, and each one took only about 15 minutes to dry.  What a difference it made!!  Spray paint, I love you. Our table is like new again :)

While I was at it, I also touched up the paint on the chairs that sit just outside our sliding door.  They too had rust spots, but I couldn't simply spray paint the whole chair because they have a plastic basket weave that makes up the seat and back of the chair.  So I just used my drop cloths to shield the areas that I didn't want the paint to reach and carefully spot-sprayed them.  I didn't think to take before pictures, but trust me, they look a lot better too.

Here's the full on post-botox patio shot.  I got a little more adventurous with my potted plants this year.  More on that later.

 

 

Have you 'botoxed' any items in your home in order to make them like new again?  Tell me about it!