Painting Wicker

You all know that I love me some Wicker!

I have been busy painting a lot of wicker lately and so today I thought I’d share a few makeovers with you, as well as share a few tips that I have learned along the way.

First up is this cute green wicker love seat and bench:

This wicker set was given to me by my sweet mother-in-law for Mothers day.

There is kind of a funny story behind it.  She and I were at the Goodwill one day dropping off some of our old stuff. We both peeked into the back warehouse of the store and noticed this cute wicker set.  We started walking in to get a closer look, but the we were stopped by someone who works there. He let us know that we were Not Allowed to go in.  He told us he should have it on the store floor in about 15 minutes.  So we went inside and waited.  The second they brought it out we said, “sold!” and asked them to ring us up. It was a crazy awesome price too! 

I love it!  I think the lines on it are so charming.

I knew that I wanted to paint it white the second I saw it.  Yes! I know, No surprise there! 🙂

So the first thing I did was brush it down with a kitchen scrub brush.  It worked well to get all of the dust and dirt out of the weaves.

To be honest, I first tried to paint it with a latex wall paint……Silly Silly Me!

It was way too difficult to get into and around all of the wicker.

So spray paint is the BEST way to go. Unless you have access to a paint sprayer, that would be even better.   I Love Rust-olem spray paint. I used a satin finish,  but I’d suggest using a semi-gloss or gloss instead.  The satin finish turned out way too flat. 

 It took 2 coats (6 cans) to do both pieces; the loveseat and the bench.  And truthfully they could probably use one more coat….. Another day!

For the cushion, at first I purchased one from Home Goods,  Oh, it was so cute – it was tan and had red star fish on it, but it didn’t fit so I had to return it. So I ended up using a foam camping mat, folded in half. I was able to cut it to the perfect size.

The second part to my funny story is that I was actually dropping off a bunch of foam mats at the Goodwill that day,  but at the last minute I decided to keep one.  I was so glad I did.

 I now can cover the foam seat is any fabric, blanket, shower curtain, table cloth, etc.. I wish.  

Which is so great for me since I love to switch things up often.  Two standard size pillows fit perfectly for the back of the love seat.

 I’m happy with the way it turned out.

You can see more of the finished look in this post blog HERE. Where I’m sharing this little set up I created on our back patio.

Because my patio isn’t really covered, my wicker gets a lot of sunlight.  So after I finally get around to giving it that final coat of paint, I will then also spray it with a sealer to help protect it and keep it from fading.

I will also be covering it and storing it in the garage during the winter months.

 So the second wicker makeover I did was to this sweet little children’s chair . . . . also picked up by my mother-in-law.  She saw it at a yard sale and thought of me. . .or I guess the boys.

 It needed a little sprucing up, so I said goodbye to the little cows…

And said Hello to a Happy Floral print and some turquoise spray paint!

 Adorable, Right?

The turquoise spray paint (Rust-oleum) went on so smooth.  It only needed one coat and a few

 touch-ups. There is a big difference between painting with a color spray paint than a white.  White requires a lot more coats. It just does.

Do you have any other tips you use when painting wicker?  let us know.

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily