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How to Paint Garden Furniture

How to Paint Garden Furniture

Use colour to refresh and revitalise a piece of garden furniture for the summer months. Whether you choose to coordinate your patio set with its natural surroundings, or renew a tired bench with a colour highlight, even a simple weekend project can transform your garden. The full Little Greene palette is available in a range of exterior finishes, so you can create an inspiring outdoor space.

Tips for painting garden furniture: Choosing an exterior paint finish

Our family of exterior finishes offers a combination of strength and beauty. Choose from a range of hardwearing, water and oil-based paints in various sheen levels to ensure your furniture stays beautiful for years to come:

  • Intelligent Exterior Eggshell is weather-resistant and completely washable. Touch dry in just 2-4 hours, your DIY project can be completed in just one afternoon. 
  • For an exquisite finish with superior penetration properties, consider Tom’s Oil Eggshell. This extremely durable paint is the preferred choice of professional decorators. 

Our gloss options for painting garden furniture include Traditional Oil Gloss and Intelligent Gloss. These tough finishes achieve a sophisticated high sheen on both interior and exterior projects. Choose Traditional Oil Gloss for a classic finish, or Intelligent Gloss as an eco-friendly, water-based alternative.

Chairs: Giallo

A key consideration before beginning your project is to make sure that the weather provides good conditions for painting. The ambient temperature should be above 5˚C with no risk of rain during application or drying. Avoid painting in full sun or on warm surfaces as this will affect the way the paint dries.

Even when working outdoors, we still recommend protecting the surrounding areas. Place down a protective dust sheet before painting, to protect your patio or decking from any splashes and spills.

Wall: Puck

Table: French Grey

Left Chair: Carmine

Right Chair: French Grey Mid

How to paint wooden garden furniture

  1. Before painting wood, ensure that the surface is clean and free of dust and any other debris for a smooth finish.
  2. Smooth planed timber can be rubbed down with a medium-grade sandpaper. 
  3. Seal any knots with Aluminium Wood Primer before proceeding with two coats of your chosen Little Greene furniture paint. 
  4. Lightly rub down between coats to remove any dust.

Back Wall: Tuscan Red

Table Legs and Plant Pot: Grey Teal

Learn more about our Aluminium Wood Primer

How to paint plastic garden furniture

Even plastic outdoor furniture can be given a seasonal uplift with our exterior finishes, which are hardwearing and extremely versatile.

  1. Ensure the furniture is clean, either by power washing or by rubbing with warm soapy water using a clean cloth.
  2. Lightly sand with 120 grit sandpaper to provide an even surface for painting.
  3. Apply a coat of Little Greene ASP, tinted to the shade of your chosen topcoat.
  4. Proceed with two coats of either Intelligent Gloss or Intelligent Exterior Eggshell for a beautiful smooth finish. We recommend leaving the paint to cure for 3-5 days, before using the furniture.

Walls: Ashes of Roses

Table: Phthalo Green

Chair: Dorchester Pink

Learn more about our All Surface Primer

How to paint metal garden furniture

Painting metal furniture is a great way to revitalise your garden for the summer months. Before applying the colour, you just need to complete a few preparation stages. 

  1. Remove any surface rust by hand or mechanically, then prime surfaces using our Intelligent ASP (All Surface Primer). 
  2. Non-ferrous metals must be pre-treated with an appropriate proprietary primer. 
  3. Apply two coats of your chosen Little Greene metal paint, lightly rubbing down between coats to remove any dust motes.

Chairs: Normandy Grey

Explore our full colour palette in Intelligent ASP

How to remove paint from garden furniture 

Make sure you achieve a beautiful finish when refreshing or repainting your garden furniture by properly stripping the existing paint.

  1. Create a clean, dry and grease-free surface using sugar soap to remove all loose and flaking paintwork, then rinse with clean water.
  2. Rub down with a medium-grade sandpaper, feathering in where paint has been removed. 
  3. Apply a primer coat of our Intelligent ASP, before adding two topcoats in your chosen colour and finish.

Swing Seat: Harley Green

Garden furniture paint ideas

Whether you have a large, sprawling garden or simple, delicate foliage, coordinate your garden furniture with its surroundings using natural hues. Normandy Grey is an elegant shade of grey with stone undertones, making it a beautiful choice for the outside.  

Wall: Linen Wash

Window Frame: Loft White

Table: Smalt

Chair: Bone China Blue

Incorporating a green shade into your outdoor scheme will ensure your furniture sits comfortably in the space. Our confident Harley Green complements red brickwork and terracotta plant pots.

Wall: Canton

Right Wall: Jack Black

Table: Dock Blue

The abundance of natural light in your garden makes it the perfect place to experiment with stronger tones. Use deep blues like Smalt and Dock Blue to adorn garden tables for an outdoor entertaining space with plenty of impact.

Summer House: Lamp Black

Chairs: Turquoise Blue

Stool: Trumpet

Smaller projects present the perfect opportunity to be adventurous with colour. Incorporating powerful primary shades such as Atomic Red or Trumpet injects personality into your outdoor space and provides a focal point.

Wall: Pleat

Chair: Atomic Red

Floor: Cool Arbour

Explore our exterior inspiration gallery to discover more ways to update your garden space.

Or read advice from our colour experts about introducing colour to outside spaces.