These are some old lawn chairs I just had sandblasted and have been repairing and painting. The blues are a pair circa 1960-70, the purple is really special, circa 1920 something. While I make it a point to leave the original finish whenever possible, that finish and especially the piece underneath, needs to be sound. These chairs had rusted so badly there were holes eaten out where the back meets the seat. Sandblasting and grinding away the unsafe flakey metal were the only way to save them for anything other than a glorified plant stand.

I'm pleased I was able to salvage them, and love the colors; who knew you could get Rustoleum tinted? I could just leave them plain, (if you could call something that bright "plain"), but I keep thinking about how much fun it would be to create something for the grandkids to fight over -in a good way - when I'm gone. ;^)

What I'm considering is painting a design based on the dragonflies from Bradbury's "Gossamer" on one of the blues, with the spiderweb design from that same pattern on the other. Bradbury & Bradbury's "Gossamer"

Perhaps a simplified version of the Iris Freize on the purple? Bradbury & Bradbury's Iris Freize

What do you think? Is it too much for the style of chairs? Should I go with something more casual? Any and all comments are welcome.
Melody,
just itching to paint

Where else could you do your version of those fabulous B&B pieces? Have a fence? Maybe build an arbor and use one of the designs. Wanna practice? Bring paints, drive about 800 miles southeast. Love to have you!

Rosie in Sugar Hill, GA

Here's a picture of the purple one. The web at the bottom helps hide the repairs and the drainage holes I added to keep it from holding water and rusting out again.

If you're interested, I'll try to get pictures of the blue chairs tomorrow.