Tropical transformation - metal patio furniture

Many years ago, I purchased a patio set.  My boy was very young at the time, so I wanted something sturdy, heavy and not easily tipped.  Toddlers have a tendency to topple furniture.  I wanted to prevent my little one from taking a nose dive on the concrete floor of the lanai.  Simple mommy logic - keep the young ones out of the emergency room, if at all possible.  Long story short, I ended up with a somewhat heavy metal patio set.  In black - my least favorite color for outdoor furniture in Florida.  

My boy is now a teenager.  The black paint has long since peeled away and I have been looking at one ugly patio set for quite some time.  Black may be my least favorite color, but rust is even worse.  Yuck!  It was time to either throw the set away, send it to the scrap yard or find a way to fix the mess.  I chose the latter; I have a strong dislike of disposing of usable items.

This particular revamp was quite time-consuming.  The black paint had not completely peeled away and the rust had made quite the mess. There were many hours spent sanding, scraping and pressure washing. This was followed by priming, spray painting, light sanding and painting again. Although I love the tropical colors, I was very tired of smelling the paint. I spent the better part of a week in my back yard, applying paint.  Bright sunshine and paint fumes can give a girl a whopper of a headache! 

Only time will tell how long this paint job will last.  I have seen what rain, direct sunshine and teething puppies can do to metal patio furniture.  It's not good.  Hopefully, all of the prep work will pay off in the long run.  If not, well, I'll just cross that bridge later.