How to Bring an Aged Chiminea Back to Life!

See how easy it is to bring an aged chiminea back to life with just a little elbow grease and spray paint! This process can also be used for repainting grills and fire pits, too!

How to Bring an Aged Chiminea Back to Life!

When we moved into our home nearly four years ago, the previous owners had left behind lots of lawn decorations (so. many. cement. mushrooms.) as well as some furniture. Pretty much if it was heavy and not necessary (like a couch), it stayed with the house.

That was fine with us because one of these items just happened to be a chiminea in the backyard!

It was looking a little worse for wear, but all it needed was a little makeover and it would be good as new again!

Can you say “S’mores”?!? My boys sure can!

Supplies

Here’s what I used for this DIY project:

Pressure washer
High heat copper spray paint
High heat black spray paint
Spray paint can comfort grip handle (not necessary but definitely saves that pointer finger!)
Hand sander

The Ugly Before

So I’m pretty terrible at taking proper “Before” pictures. I tend to just jump right into a project without first snapping pics, or sometimes just happen to start a project without actually realizing it.

That’s what happened again here. I was outside pressure washing our back patio this spring when I got a little carried away with my aim, and whoops! I accidentally blasted a little of the chiminea’s base in the process…and was immediately intrigued at just how much gunk and loose paint was removed.

So I kept going.

Before I knew it, I had pressure washed the entire thing, and no “Before” pics had been snapped. Nuts!

So here’s the best picture I could find that shows the chiminea in its true state before I started this transformation.

And here’s what a little pressure washing had done to the chiminea’s appearance.

Most of the original pink/whitish paint was removed, but there was still lots of fading, aging, and grime.

Still too much sadness for our backyard.

The metal base was also rusted and sad, so that would be getting a makeover too.

Sanding & Painting the Metal Base

So, after pressure washing and drying, I first started the makeover on the metal base.

I removed as much rust as I could with my hand sander, then applied a couple coats of some high heat black spray paint.

(I have no idea if high heat paint was actually necessary for this project, but I figured better safe than sorry. I mean this paint is used for grills and fire pits, so it should be perfect for a chiminea too.)

Painting the Chiminea

Next up, it was the chiminea’s turn.

For this step, I used some high heat copper spray paint. That way it would kinda look like the original terra cotta (at least I think that’s what it is…?), but also have a pretty subtle shine.