How to Spray Paint Your Outdoor Cushions

Sounds scary, I know. But it’s not that bad and I think the result is great. If you have some tired old outdoor cushions that you are tired of looking at, try spray painting them. What do you have to loose – some boring old outdoor cushions you are probably going to throw out anyway?

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BEFORE AND AFTER

I have these two lounge chairs out by the far end of the pool. We have two sets of cushions that we constantly carry out of the rain and back to the chairs. The chairs give us a focal point other than the fence when you look out the windows from inside the family room/kitchen. The cushions have seen better days and I have seen better focal points. I decided I had nothing to loose, but a couple of cans of spray paint. I say it was a good decision.

HOW TO SPRAY PAINT YOUR OUTDOOR CUSHIONS

STEP ONE: CHOOSE YOUR COLOR

I used three cans of navy spray paint to paint two outdoor lounge cushions. I decide to paint the faded red cushions first to see how it went. The navy color was darker than the red. I don’t think I would attempt to go with a lighter color than the fabric you already have.

STEP TWO: PREPARE YOUR SPACE

I laid out a large piece of cardboard and placed my cushion on top.

STEP THREE: WET YOUR CUSHIONS

I wetted the fabric of the cushion with a wet washcloth.The cushion wasn’t soaked, but the fabric was definitely wet. I think this helped the paint stick to the fabric.

STEP FOUR: SPRAY PAINT YOUR CUSHIONS

I sprayed the fabric with two to three coats of paint and allowed it to dry between coats. The fabric really soaks up the paint. The first coat will look terrible, but it gets better with each coat. Don’t forget to spray around the edges. Try to get into where the piping is if your cushions have piping. I sprayed just enough around the edge of the underside so that you couldn’t tell I didn’t spray the entire underside.

STEP FIVE: ACCESSORIZE

I accessorized with fresh new pillows.

ADDITIONAL TIPS AND THINGS TO CONSIDER

After spray painting, your fabric will not be as soft as it was before. If you want softer fabric, you can sand or rub the fabric with steel wool in between coats of paint, but it’s probably not ever going to be super soft. We don’t sit out here very often. Like I said, it’s more of a focal point than resting place.
The paint might scrape or rub off if you have a dog that likes to climb and sit on your cushions. I do and she has scraped some of the paint off at the foot of the cushion. I will probably do some touch up painting next summer.
The fabric is somewhat waterproof. I find this to be great. We haven’t carried them in out of the rain one time this summer.
There was no pattern on the fabric that I painted. I think a pattern would show through the paint. You would have to decide whether you liked that or not.

This was the perfect solution for my situation. I just love a good rescue.

You can also see what I filled the bottom of my large planter with here and how I dried and spray painted these gourds here.