For wooden garden furniture, exterior eggshell is the sweet spot. It gives you a low-sheen, weather-resistant film that copes with rain, UV and the constant expansion and contraction of timber outdoors. Full gloss looks smart on day one but it's brittle — on furniture that's handled and sat on, it chips and shows every knock. A flat or matt finish, meanwhile, holds dirt and won't shrug off water the way you need outside.
My go-to is Little Greene Intelligent Exterior Eggshell — it's water-based, low-odour and genuinely durable for trim, doors and furniture alike. Dulux Weathershield Exterior Satinwood is the workhorse alternative if you want something off the shelf and bombproof. For a heritage-leaning scheme, Sanderson and Craig & Rose both do exterior-grade eggshells that sit nicely on classic timber benches and chairs.
Prep is where these jobs are won or lost. Sand back any old flaking finish, fill, then prime bare or knotty timber properly — Zinsser Cover Stain is a cracking exterior-suitable primer that blocks tannin bleed from oak and cedar. Two thin topcoats beat one thick one every time.
The big "but what about" — what if the furniture is oily hardwood like teak or iroko? Don't paint it. Oily timbers reject film paints and you'll get peeling within a season. Those want a penetrating oil instead — Osmo exterior oils feed the wood and weather gracefully rather than flaking.
For metal furniture, switch tack entirely. Use a direct-to-metal exterior finish such as Hammerite (over rust-treated steel) or a Rust-Oleum metal system. Both bond and protect without needing a separate primer in most cases.
Colour-wise, muted greens and soft neutrals suit a garden setting. Farrow & Ball Card Room Green, Treron or Studio Green look superb against planting, and Pigeon is a lovely understated grey-green for a painted bench.
Whatever you pick, paint on a dry, mild day — not in full midday sun, which skins the surface too fast and traps solvent.