Have you ever seen a set of old metal lawn chairs from the 1950's and thought, with just a little TLC, they would look extremely nice on my patio? You're probably right, says restoration expert Teri Masaschi, author of Foolproof Wood Finishing:For Those Who Love to Build and Hate to Finish . The real question with metal parts is:do you really want them to look like new? And if yes, how much time and effort will it take to restore those pieces to their former glory?
Holly Lessey
Holly Lessey
Holly Lessey
The first thing to consider with metal furniture, says Teri, is whether you want to remove rust and other signs of wear. "The industrial look is very attractive right now," she says. "If you have a part like an old metal workbench from a factory where the parts were made, and the metal has been beaten and there's a dirty old rusty patina with hardly any paint, well, people are putting them in their kitchens. now. You don't want to touch that, because it will damage its value. The most you'll want to do is wash it with soap and water."
This can be especially true for old metal lighting with brass and iron clamps, chandeliers and beds, so look through a contemporary lens before deciding on the finish. If you can't incorporate them into your own look, you may want to sell them instead. Visit vintage shops on sites like Etsy.com to get an idea of what people are buying; Good keywords to use are "vintage", "rustic", "rust chic" and "industrial".
Andrea Clem
Andrea Clem
Andrea Clem
Old, rusty metal pieces are a hot ticket on Etsy.com, including this coat hanger (Image 1), old milk bottle crate (Image 2), and serving bell (Image 3) from Vintage Lancaster .
Some metal furniture, on the other hand, needs upgrading. Your decor may not require a tatty touch, and some pieces, like lawn chairs, will have too much contact with bare skin for rusty edges to be practical or safe. But know that you're in for a little sweat (and maybe tears). Assuming you want to paint them, you'll need to get rid of all the rust first. "You need to get to the new, clean metal," Teri says.
For a chandelier, that might not be a big deal, but for a neglected set of four lawn chairs, rust removal could take several weekends to complete. You will need a wire brush for the first round and then a sander with 60-80 grit sandpaper to smooth the surface. "It's a tremendous amount of work," says Teri. "But some people love that."
Design blogger Andrea Clem of Oasis Accents tackled her grandmother's rusty old lawn chair as a DIY project. Image 1 shows the chair after Andrea sanded it to clean the metal. "I thought my arms were going to fall off," she says. Andrea used a wire brush and a cordless drill with wire attachments to remove the rust (Image 2). A rust preventative primer and several coats of light green paint were applied to make the chair look like new (Pictures 3 and 4).
If you can't face the prospect of that much elbow grease, you'll need to take your piece in to be professionally sandblasted. (Sandblasters are usually listed as such in the phone book, but sometimes a body shop is a good resource, too.) A set of four lawn chairs, depending on the condition they are in, will get you at least a few hundred. dollars.
After your surface is rust-free, what remains is simple:paint. Spray paint works as well as anything else, Teri says, but be sure to use a primer specifically for old rusty metal or previously painted surfaces. (And for lawn chairs, use paint marked "interior/exterior.") Follow the directions on the can carefully, paying particular attention to the window of time it recommends between coats. Plan to use a couple of coats of primer, with scratches in between to give the paint a surface to adhere to, and a couple of coats of color. It's a time investment, to be sure, but the payoff depends on how much you love the piece.
"The sad thing is that those retro lawn chairs you love are now being reproduced in China and you can buy them direct," says Teri. "But they're not as good as the old ones. The metal isn't usually as heavy a gauge and they're not as strong and tough." You can expect to pay around $100 per chair for a reproduction. You can also find refurbished or otherwise good parts on eBay and Craigslist for a little less.
If your motivation is to make something lasting with your own personal touch, not to mention preserving an heirloom or recycling something that would otherwise end up in a landfill, finishing a piece of metal may be worth your time. But considering the cost of sandblasting and painting and the time involved, if looks are all you care about, you're better off going with a stylish reproduction or a renovation.
