I'm always on the search for wrought iron patio furniture, probably because it reminds me of my late grandma Marcella who had some of the most beautiful patio sets. I'll never forget the summer she took care of me and my sister, Shala, when we were kids. We always had lunch alfresco at her condo in Capistrano Beach.
I bought a set of these wrought iron chairs (4 for $20) because they had such great potential. Most of you would agree that the rusty white patina is fantastic, and although I was tempted to keep them as is, the rusty parts weren't consistent all over so I decided to spray them.
I went to about three hardware shops to have wooden seats cut to size, and surprisingly, nobody would do it. Evidently they only do 90 degree straight cuts, and I needed angled cuts because the seat was a trapezoid. So this ended up being a hassle--warning for those that find awesome chairs like this that just need seats! It's a lot more work if you don't have access to a wood worker or can't do this yourself. I ended up doing a barter on craigslist and had the seats made for me. Before I screwed on the wood seats, I painted them in order to seal the wood grain so they wouldn't completely fall apart due to weathering. The plain wood seats didn't bother me because I knew I was going to add cushions (BOUGHT not made). After wire-brushing, I sprayed the chairs a high gloss red (2 coats- 3 1/2 cans) and added cushions from Pier One.
