Ideas for Painting Your 3 Seater Patio Bench

Much more than a simple comfortable seat for a rest after a long walk through the park, a 3 seater patio bench can serve as a canvas to reflect local pride, enliven an unused hallway or add flowers to a garden. Wooden benches are usually extremely sturdy and will need little more than a quick sanding and a fresh coat of color to make it both useful and attractive. Below are three painting ideas to inspire you and get your started.

Community Spirit Benches

Make a community project out of painting, using plain benches like the Del-Amo 3-Seater Bench by Anderson Teak. See if a local school, youth group, public library, or any non-profit organization will help sponsor the event. If you can, enlist local media  to help publicize the effort and its results. A theme or contest for the best designs is a way to control artistic exuberance and end up with a cohesive community look. You can have scout troops paint local history themes, farm animals or indigenous flowers on the benches. A community center or high school center can tackle uplifting quotes or sports themes. Everyone involved takes pride in ownership and a reason to protect the benches from damage or graffiti and the community ultimately gets attractive benches.

Botanical Bench

A wooden garden bench like the 6-Inch Cedar Keyway Garden Bench by Creekvine Designs could use a facelift. You can disguise it with flowers. Sand the rough edges, wipe it down and apply one or two base coats of color. Try a creamy ivory to make pale flowers pop or a vivid lime for larger, more exotic blooms. Cover a pale, pretty bench in wildflowers and heritage roses with the help of tracing paper and garden catalog cutouts. Use a stencil of a giant flower or free-sketch hibiscus blossoms for a bright bench. When the base coat is dry, transfer or draw the flower designs on the seat of the bench. With the stems or vines winding down the legs. Paint the seat first, then the legs and edges. Seal with a clear protective coat when dry, and tuck the bench into a flowery corner of the garden.

Boot Bench in the Mud Room

A simple bench like the Savannah Backless 5ft Bench by Arbora Teak gives the perfect place to tug on or take off rain or snow boots in a hallway or back mud room. You can paint the bench to match or complement existing décor: a shiny lacquered bench in a modern black and white hallway; a red, white, and blue bench in an American colonial house; a quirky design of dogs, cats and umbrellas raining all over the bench in a kid-friendly interior. Highlight a sense of humor by painting the bench bright yellow with large black letters saying “Keep of the Bench” stenciled across the seat back. You can also let the youngest in the family paint parts of the bench with their own designs, and let them put their autograph before you seal it with a coat of protective lacquer.