Hi, I have good luck with oil base industrial paint (alkyd). Just prime the metal and brush it on. It takes about 2 days to dry. It's what fire hydrants are painted with and comes in lots of colors. It should last for years. It's available at large paint stores and Home Depot, etc. Habitat ReStores carry a big selection of mis-mixed paints.
You'll have to decide if the table can hold a glass top. We found nice round glass at Cost Plus imports for a very good price. You can probably use a larger piece of glass if you can't locate the exact size. Sometimes glass top tables turn up on the curb, at yard sales, thrift stores, etc. It's expensive to have custom cut.
Please post a picture of it so we can see it. Linda

Ahh...thank you for the tip on the paint. I'm wanting to do it in a shade of aqua (saw a great spread in an old Country Home magazine where the furnishings were this color, and Oh! How Florida it looked!), so hopefully I can find that color. I'll check HD tonight when I go for more sandpaper.

And of course, I'll post a pic when she's all done!!

Don't forget you can mix colors if necessary. If I wasn't over here on the left coast, you could use some of mine. They may be able to custon mix it for you at HD or at a large paint store. Linda

Would love to see the pic of the table and chairs when you're done. I'm no mosaic expert that's for sure but I found something similar for an outside metal table and the glass was missing and I have a piece of plywood also. I was just going to use half marbles and maybe a design or randomly placed.

Sal

If the sandpaper doesn't do the trick, get a wire brush that goes on a drill and use that. (Remember your safety goggles) Also, after you finish all of your sanding, I'd use Must-for-Rust. This will get rid of any remaining rust in hidden spots. Then you can use any rust-oleum spray paint. Be sure to get the can that specifically says it stops rust. If you can't get your surface totally smooth, use the hammered enamel finish. It hides the imperfections. I've done two sets like this and love them.

I also found this site....

Here is a link that might be useful: Additional help

I got a nice table and chair set last year. I used a wire brush,then Rustoleum. It's still looking great. The table was green,and the rocking chairs were black, I painted them all white. I think to mosaic the top would be a fabulous idea, I'd guess it would hold it up. I mosaiced a plastic table,one of those cheap ones,and it's holding up.

Yup, I've had good luck with Rustoleum, too. Regarding the mosaicing, that CAN be pretty weighty. I don't know what to tell you in terms of estimating what kind of weight your base will be able to support.

And you probably already have thought of this, but you might want to also make sure when you choose your grouting for the mosaicing that it's for the outdoors. I know a lot of them at Michael's aren't, so when I mosaiced some stepping stones for my garden, I had to get specific Outdoor kind.

Sounds like a great project!
--Jenn
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