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Maintaining Timber Garden Swing Seat with Thorndown Wood Paint

Garden furniture can provide a great focal point for a garden and place to sit back and enjoy.

A timber swing seat is perfect for relaxing in and enjoying the garden, but you need to look after them to ensure they last for decades. This old Miami Swing Seat by Zest had been sat in the garden for years and used many times by friends and family.

The treatment originally applied to it had worn over the years and was in desperate need of maintenance. Thorndown Wood Paint was used to transform this timber garden swing seat, restoring it to its former glory.

Maintenance for Garden Furniture

Miami-Swing-Seat-maintenanceIt’s pretty easy to maintain and refresh old garden furniture, keeping it looking great and protected against the weather whilst sat outside.

(i) wash down with soapy water to remove dirt and algae. Removing the swing seat from the base made it a lot easier to wash the underside of the seat

(ii) sand problem areas with stubborn algae build-up or rough surfaces that you want to smooth off. Sanding large areas can be a lot quicker and easier than scrubbing

(iii) wipe off dusty deposits from sanding and leave the timber to dry before painting

(iv) get your brushes and paint ready, checking to make sure rain isn’t forecast for 24 hours to allow paint to fully dry and fix

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Selecting the colour or colours to paint with is an important part of the process. The colour scheme can create different moods and can make the job easier or harder to do!

The frame of the old swing seat had originally been painted with a wood stain. As it had worn away in many areas and become patchy, painting over the top of it with a translucent wood stain or paint would have shown up all of the patches so it was best to replace it with a solid/opaque colour.
 
Thorndown’s Lead Grey Wood Paint was selected as an attractive solid colour that would cover over the old patchy worn coating. This was contrasted with Rock Rose Wood Paint that was chosen to reflect the pretty pink of the montana clematis that falls like a waterfall behind the swing seat.
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Two coats were painted on, obliterating the old coatings and providing full exterior protection against the weather. Thorndown wood paint is durable, water-based, highly water-repellent and has VOC-free exterior-grade colour pigments that will stay strong and true for many years.

Depending on levels of exposure and wear and tear, the coating will last up to 8 years with vertical surfaces lasting a lot longer than horizontals which have greater levels of wear and exposure to rain and frost. If you notice any wear on the horizontals after a few years then apply a maintenance coat.

Here’s a handy pdf on Project Advice For Exterior Timber Garden Furniture

Stencilling with Wood Paint

Floral decorative stencilling was added to the front cross beam to break up the solid block of grey colour and drawing the Rose Pink into the top section to help unify the whole design.

The floral sprig stencil was used from the Golden Floral Stencil Pack and the rose from the Summer Floral Stencil Pack, that can also be found in the Love Stencil Pack.

The rose was arranged centrally with the sprig on the left. The sprig was then reversed on the right to create a mirror image and complete the design.

The stencils were taped in place with frog tape which has a low tack so doesn’t leave marks on paint, or damage it. Using an art brush Rock Rose wood paint was painted inside of the stencil following the stencil outline. If you apply a paint brush across the stencil then you run the risk of paint bleed under the stencil which can smudge and smear. Instead paint around, inside and up to the stencil outline then remove the stencil avoiding smudging or damaging the fresh paint. If there are any smudges you can wipe them away with a clean cloth, or just leave them to dry and paint over them with the background paint colour.

Once the first coat was dry a second coat was hand applied using the existing paintwork as a guide, filling in and making the stencil paintwork more solid.

It creates a lovely piece of decorative detail with the minimum of talent and effort!

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