On a drive home one afternoon, I (Vicki) spotted a couple of Adirondack chairs and matching footstools curbside in a trash pile. Everything was in really rough condition and truly ready to be hauled to the landfill!

But, I had a lightbulb moment and thought we could rehab them using parts from the footstools and finish them with some leftover Olympic Elite outdoor stain. We loaded them up in the van and took them back to the workshop.

This is truly a trash to treasure project!

Supplies

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Materials:

Olympic 128 oz. Premium Deck Cleaner
RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Battery 1 Gal. Chemical Sprayer
DAP Premium Wood Filler 16 oz. White
Titebond III 16 oz. Ultimate Wood Glue
RIDGID 18V Cordless 5 in. Random Orbit Sander
SandNet Sandpaper
Olympic Elite 1 gal. Midnight Blue Solid Advanced Exterior Stain and Sealant in One

Step 1: Watch the Video

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Step 2: Clean

All of this was set out for big trash pick-up day. The chairs were a mess as were the footstools.

But, we realized there were enough good slats in the footstools to replace all the broken ones in the chairs.

Before attempting any repairs, we first cleaned them with Olympic Deck Cleaner. We've used this one time before with great results. We did the chairs and the two footstools.

The Olympic deck cleaner is used at full strength right out of the container. We used a Ryobi battery power garden sprayer to apply the cleaner although a manual garden sprayer would work as well.

The cleaner is sprayed on, allowed to work for ten minutes, and then rinsed off with the hose. We let the chairs dry overnight before starting any repairs.

Step 3: Repair

You can see the amount of damage on the chair. After cleaning you can see how much cleaner and lighter the chairs are.

Here Steph is removing the damaged slats. They were easy to remove as there was only a single screw on each side. Some of the screws broke off and had to be cut off.

We salvaged good slats from the footstools to use in place of the broken ones on the two chairs.

This arm probably was the most damaged thing on the chair outside of the broken slats. A little outdoor wood glue and some clamps brought it all back together. I also used a bit of Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty near the back edge that was missing a bit of wood. I used wood fill to all the holes and splits that I found.

After all the repairs were made we did a light sanding.

Step 4: Stain

We're using this Olympic Elite Exterior stain that we had leftover from our two-ladder plant stand project. These renovated chairs will ultimately have a place next to the plant stand so the stain choice was an easy one.

With the exception of a little touch-up where we missed some areas, this stain gave us one coat coverage.

We are all finished.

Have a seat! The chairs are now fully functional, strong, and ready for more years of use.

Saved from the landfill!

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