The only experience I've had is with an iron bed. At first the auto body place (a good one) was going to do it for about $300, but I ended up having to have my son take it to an ironworks. We ran into some difficulties and it ended up costing me more than I estimated, but I got what I wanted and it was cheaper than buying a refurbished one.

As to the chairs, I would paint them myself, can't help you with the authenticity of the era, but I would go over any rust spots with a wire brush, get a can of rustoleum primer and a can of finish coat (I chose white gloss) for some cute garden stakes I found at a garage sale for holding candles I think.

Whether you do it yourself or have an auto body place do it, you are going to have chipping problems which you will probably want to touch up to keep it nice. So if you do it yourself and the paint doesn't get too old, you will have some on hand.

Spraying is faster but wastes paint, so I am just going to use a brush. Usually nowadays primer coats dry pretty fast, but I can't say about rustoleum yet.

I just used Rustoleum's oil based primer and gloss enamel for my claw foot bath tub that became a planter in my garden. I chose a custom color, something I didn't know you could do with Rustoleum paints! I wire brushed the whole thing to remove any loose paint (there was alot!). If memory serves I had to wait 24 hours after priming to paint and another 24 until the second coat. Just check the labels when you go to purchase. I'm very pleased with the results!

It would take less time if you use water based products but I was assured by my local "paint guy" (he's been selling paint for years and I trust him implicitly) that the oil based products are worth the extra time and effort because they will hold up better under out door conditions. I won't be moving my tub in for our winters here in Ohio. You don't say where you are from and chairs can be stored inside so I don't know if that's a consideration for you.

I used Rustoleum spray paints for the the parts of my satellite dish gazebo and it was more expensive because of all the waste. Brushing all of those curliques was not an option for me. It's made it through one winter alright and touch up is easy with spray paint.
You can try the Garden Junk forum for more info too. There are lots of folks with all kinds of experiences with paint and we're always happy to help out another "curb shopper!"

Hope that this helps!

Mimi

Hey Jamie and all,

I took a bunch of vintage iron lawn furniture to a sandblasting company. The new finish was perfect for accepting the primer. I used a Rustoleum product for priming. Be sure to use the one for non-rusty - it is white. I'd use an excellent quality oil based exterior paint. My preference is Porter Paint, but know there any many other quality products available. You'll get a wonderful long lasting finish. Well worth the time to hand paint it, IMHO.

How about before, during and after pictures for us?

Rosie