Inside: Yes you can spray paint plastic outdoor chairs to give them new life and add color to your outdoor living space! Read my tips for best results!
I don’t know about you but I’ll be spending a good chunk of the summer in our backyard. I can just see myself with a (sometimes adult) beverage in hand watching my kiddos play. It is like a dream…until I realized that there’s no great place to sit! Ya see, we’ve had these disgusting plastic Adirondack chairs for years that leave a white chalky mark on your bee-hind.
I’ve tried rinsing them, and scrubbing them, but it just seemed to make them worse, and I’d get less dirty sitting on the ground…which sorta defeats the purpose of a chair right? But I am just not okay with getting rid of them before I try to fix them and I am so glad I did!
Who knew you could spray paint outdoor plastic chairs and that about an hour of my time would result in loving them again? And the best part? …I’ve been dying to use these bright colors and finally had a perfect excuse! Seriously, this project was so simple. It took me about an hour (broken up into two 30 minute spray sessions) to do 6 chairs.
Here’s how I spray painted plastic outdoor chairs:
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Supplies:
Spray paint: made to bond to plastic. About 1 can per chair.
- I used Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch (Colors: Lagoon and Key Lime)
- The sheen matters. I used 2 different sheens (gloss and satin) and although you couldn’t see a difference when they were first painted, the satin lasted a lot longer.
RELATED: My Spray Painted Plastic Chairs, One Year Later
How I Painted Plastic Outdoor Chairs
- Clean ’em: I simply hosed down the chairs using a fancy nozzle I call my thumb to get the water to come out with some pressure.
- Dry ’em: I allowed them to dry completely in the sun. (Then make sure they aren’t too hot before applying your paint.
- Prep your space: I don’t like the cleanup part of any project and try to avoid it as much as possible so I did my spraying right on the lawn. It made some marks, but they were gone after the lawn was mowed. If this isn’t an option for you, use a drop cloth or old sheet.
- Paint ’em: Spray each chair with a thin coat of spray paint. Hold the can about 10 inches from the surface of the plastic chair and keep the can moving while you spray. Don’t worry about full coverage during this first coat of paint.
- **Tip: It may be best to start with the bottom side of the chair to get your rhythm down even though I didn’t even paint the bottom of ours.
- Second coat: I let the first coat dry for about 30 minutes before spraying my second coat. I think the directions say to wait a bit longer, but I am impatient and the kids’ nap time is only so long.
- Final inspection: You may have a few spots here and there to touch up. Get down and crawl around your chair and look at it from all angles to make sure all visible parts are painted…and to make your neighbor, who happens to peek over the fence to say hi during this step, think you’re crazy.
- Let ’em dry COMPLETELY: The only thing worse than the original white stuff getting on my rear end would be spray paint. So I let them dry for the remainder of a warm afternoon and then waited a few days before anyone sat on them to be safe.
I should mention that a few people have reported that the chalky residue didn’t go away after they painted their chairs –– no good. Honestly, I can’t say why some work and some don’t — it may be the material made to make the chair??? My best advice is to try this with one chair and see how it turns out before proceeding with the rest so you don’t waste your time and money.
Don’t you love these?
RELATED: Click here to see how my chairs look 1 year later!
