Refinished Deck Furniture

Now with the deck cleaned, we could get our outdoor furniture back out there. Yes, back out there. Over the summer I have been slowly stripping the wood, then staining and sealing it. I did all of the sanding on the deck, but once each piece was stripped I took it to the garage for refinishing. So the deck has been a bit empty for the last two months.

The furniture came in a honey/reddish tone with beige seat cushions.  Kind of bland and vanilla, but it did look nice when it was dressed up with pillows and throws.

That served us well for a couple of years, but the elements took their toll on the finish and it was starting to peel. The wood that was no longer sealed started to weather in an uneven way, so that we had grey patches mixed with the original honey colour. And a bit of mildew.

I booked a couple of vacation days and got to work removing all of the stain and whatnot. Lucky for me it ended up being two gorgeous days in the high twenties (Celsius) where I could work on my tan while I sanded the heck out of that furniture. I took each piece right down to raw wood. I even discovered that the top of the coffee table was cedar (as I tried unsuccessfully to remove the red tone. Duh!)

Here's my sleepy helper. She's not a fan of the noise. But she matches the Ridgid colours - new mascot perhaps?

Once everything was completely sanded and wiped down, I stained each piece with two coats of Minwax stain in Red Mahogany. Just gorgeous. If these pieces were inside my house I would have just waxed them to a soft glow and let them be, but because they had to withstand our ever-changing weather, I needed to apply polyurethane. Three coats just to be safe.

With all those slats there was a lot of drip-through to the other side. By the time I got to the second piece I'd learned it was best to apply a coat to the underside, flip it over while wet, and then wipe off the drips on the top side. Then when you apply the poly to the top, you can wipe the drips underneath, but if you miss a couple it's no big deal because no one will see them. That's my theory anyway. And if you're that person looking under my furniture: just stop it right now.

Also, you'll get a smoother finish if you sand between coats with the highest grit paper you have. Some people are lucky and don't need to, but working in our garage, which isn't pristine, there were always a few rough spots from dust and/or bubbles. But if you sand after the first and second coats, your third coat should be nice and smooth.

Along with the loveseat, chairs, and coffee table that came in a set, I also refinished the two side tables so that the entire area is cohesive. In fact, they are the same shade as the fold-down bar we made last year. How's that for tying things together? There is a method in my madness.

The contrast between the wood and the cushions is much more noticeable now. It stops those big squares and rectangles of beige from looking blah and invisible. I replaced the green and blue accents from before with brown and orange. Cute little lumbar pillows, right? And it all coordinates with the umbrella now, which was kind of the odd man out before.

I so dig the glossy look of the tables. And I'm not normally a fan of polyurethane - just check out my numerous other posts about waxing refinished furniture for proof. I watched the rain bead on the tabletop the other day and just smiled.

I set up the area with a little impromptu party - pickles, cheese, salami, etc. - and fizzy drinks of course. And then took a million artsy pictures of the glasses.

In fact, I took so long that the other three "people" living in the house decided to start the party without me.

 But they're so cute, how could I be mad?

Cheers!