A pretty picnic

Projects from Family Times magazine

Spring’s the perfect time to give new life to that old table.

A refurbished picnic table with painted daisies

What you'll need

An old picnic table, or other outdoor furniture
Resene paints: Resene testpots are sufficient for details like the daisies
Paintbrushes (including finer-tipped ones for the daisies), masking tape, cotton buds and drop cloth

Instructions

Prepare your table: wash down, brush, or sand if necessary.
Paint with one coat of Resene Quick Dry waterborne primer undercoat. We turned table upside down and painted the underside first.
Using Resene Lustacryl semi-gloss waterborne enamel, paint two coats of your chosen colour, allowing time for each coat to try. You can use masking tape to create a straight, clean edge.
Once dry, paint on your daisies. You could practice first with coloured pencils or draw the outlines of the daisies lightly onto the wood before painting.
For the centres of the flowers, dab on the paint quickly around the edge to create a spattered, more natural edge. We used cotton buds to make spots in the centre of each flower. Keep dabbing to blend the colours.

Refurbish a picnic table for spring

Painting a picnic table in pastoral green - Resene Paddock

Mix it up

Inspired by the colour Resene Paddock, we opted for simple daisies along the ends of our picnic table. However, there are many awesome ways of sprucing up an old table.

Use masking tape to create lines and interesting shapes for a bold, geometric look.
Draw around lids of various sizes to make circles, then paint in vibrant Resene colours for a look that pops.
You could paint a Noughts and Crosses grid onto the top of the table.
A friend painted a beautiful karakia onto her children’s table.

For all your DIY projects, big or small, visit your nearest Resene ColorShop.

Painting daisies on a picnic table
Painting the daisies