The rust on one of the chairs in particular was so bad, it was beyond repair. The other three chairs seemed salvageable, though.
The paint was flaking off where the rust was the worst.
I chipped off the flakes and sanded down the bad spots.
I had some rusty metal primer left over from another project a couple years ago.
The primer was still good, so I mixed it up and painted it on the chairs.
The primer alone was a huge improvement.
After the primer dried, I spray painted the chairs black. The finish is a bit rough on some of the spots that were really chippy, but it’s a great improvement over the rust.
Next, I tackled the cushions, which had acquired a weird pink cast over the years. It almost looked like they were rusting, too. I scrubbed them down with hot, soapy water, sprayed them with a bleach cleaner, and used a few Mr. Clean Magic Erasers on them…
…to no avail. The pink was not letting go…
… so I decided to just paint over it. I’m not sure what the cushions are made of, but they clearly have some kind of waterproof coating that feels more like plastic than any natural fiber. I used a Rust-Oleum paint (Leafy Green, satin finish) that said it would bond to plastic, and it worked like a charm.