Thursday, October 7, 2010

Outdoor Chairs Before and After

I'm fortunate that my condo has both a front and back door, and feels more like a townhome.

Last year, in an attempt to gain more outdoor living space, I bought two wood lounge chairs at Ikea. After a year being exposed to the elements,they were in rather sad shape.



Mom had just finished staining her deck with a solid color deck stain from Sherwin Williams. I liked the dark charcoaly-green color and she had just a bit left over. Being the helpful daughter I am, I tried to use it up.  Plus it has a five year warranty for decks, so I should not have to do this again for a while.


I wiped down the chairs to get the dirt, pine needles, and other crusty stuff off. If you really want to do it up right, clean with a deck cleaner.

I painted one coat with a foam brush. If I did this over again, I would use a real paintbrush. The foam brushes tore apart midway through the second chair. But cleaning brushes is a huge pain to me, so I'm all about disposable.

I did one thin coat.  A few things I learned about this product: Stir really well to mix the stain as it tends to separate if left standing for a few days. It's a lot runnier than paint, so thin coats and use a dropcloth.

After one coat it looked nice, but the wood still showed through.


And then it rained for four days.

After the downpours stopped, I let the chairs dry out for a few days. Then I painted a thin second coat on and let it dry while I went out of town for work.

When I got back, they look like this:



I'm looking forward to enjoying wine in the evenings and coffee in the mornings on my newly redone patio chairs!

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2 comments:

  1. Lovely, best re-do so far!! I must say, you should invest in these www.purdy.com You mentioned you hate the pain in washing brushes..well these will last forever, and you wont have to waste money on disposables! There sold almost everywhere you can buy paint, and cost about $10-and up!

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  2. The chairs look so much more inviting now. The color is very soothing & will work well with a glass of wine for relaxation.
    I have become a follower of your blog. Can't wait to see what else you do!

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