Adirondack Style on a Shoestring

Ever since living in upstate New York fifteen years ago, we’ve loved Adirondack chairs.  Well, actually just Adirondack style…the grand rustic style of the “camps” gives us something to aspire to, on a much smaller scale of course.

When I see Adirondack chairs, I think of long, relaxing afternoons on the deck, not really doing anything but enjoying life.  We’ve owned about four dozen of the plastic versions, and here’s why.  We’re cheap. They’re such fun colors, and change every year. We’ve not had a covered porch for a very long time, and I want real wood ones protected a bit from the weather. The wooden ones last forever, I know, but until we’re done moving back and forth across the country every couple of years, we were sticking with lightweight and inexpensive.

Then we moved to Wisconsin last summer, and lo and behold, the first Sunday newspaper had a flyer advertising Adirondack chairs for $19.95. So we bought four.  Why four when there are five of us?  They only had four in stock when we got to the store.  The hooligans never all sit still at the same time, anyway.

The unassembled chairs sat in the basement until this spring, though, when I finally shamed my GI Joe into assembling them for my birthday.  They’re just pine, so I know they won’t last for years and years, but for the price, I’m fine with that.

Once they were assembled, I didn’t want them out in the weather until I stained and polyurethaned them.  Which took until last weekend.  It was always too hot, too humid, or too many other projects I wanted to do!  But that’s okay, too, because it’s just getting to be campfire weather and they’ll be perfect for hanging out and making s’mores.

We bought the smallest size stain we could find, a half-pint, and it proved to be the perfect amount.  Yay, us.  The paint mixer at Home Depot was less than thrilled to have to make four different colors, but the customer is always right, right?

We used Behr Semi Transparent Stains in Bard Red, Wedgewood, Cedar, and something green…sorry, but we disposed of the cans and I can’t remember the name. I think it had “Mountain” or “Pine” in it. The stains were less than $3 each, and a quart of polyurethane was plenty for all four chairs.

All in all, we spent a touch over $25 per chair.  That’s a price I can live with…and not feel guilty if the rain gets to them or the movers damage them next summer.  Now I need to go relax, read, and enjoy an icy beverage in one of my new chairs while the hooligans are still occupied at YMCA Camp.  Cheers!