How to paint white outdoor furniture to look like wicker sofa?

[sjepickering]

[Jason]

Hi @sjepickering,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's great to have you join us. 

Apologies for the slow reply. Can I please confirm that the first, second and last photos is the white piece of furniture that you want to repaint to make it look like the third image? If so, I suspect that won't be possible given the wicker is not a uniform colour. 

Let me tag some experienced members who upcycle furniture for their thoughts: @lieselroberts, @daniknight4, @LorenaDIYS and @Renowayoflife.

Jason

[sjepickering]

Thank you for your reply,  yes you are correct re the white to be painted similar to the wicker. I will play around with a mix of dark and light colours and see how it goes. Else I will pick a solid colour that will blend in. Cheers Sue

[EricL]

Hi @sjepickering (Sue)

If you are planning on painting your wicker sofa with that brown and white pattern it will possibly take some time as there is no single brush that can duplicate the pattern in one go. The twisted rope pattern must be painted individually on each strip of the white chair to duplicate the effect. It's not impossible, but it will take a great deal of time. 

If you decide to paint the chair instead, I suggest having a look at this discussion - How to paint cane furniture by @Diy_Shell. The general steps are to sand the surface of the chair, clean and prime the surface. Once the primer is dry you can then paint it with a topcoat of your choice. 

Here is a link to our best advice: How do you restore cane furniture?

My best advice is to consider investing in a detail sander. Not only will it reduce your sanding time, but it will also let you get into those tight spots and difficult to sand corners.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[sjepickering]

Thank you Eric, these tips and links are very useful. I think a solid colour is the way to go.