My wife wanted some pool side chairs but the ones she saw were over $1000 each so I built my own (to be honest next time i'll stop being such a cheapskate and buy them!!)

I had all the wood lying around so have estimated costs (in NZ$) for pounds divide by 2

Materials

2m 4x4 ($15)

5m 4x2 ($20)

2m 2x2 ($2)

1 sheet (8'x4') 10mm ply ($60)

10kg Tile Cement ($35)

5kg Black Grout ($40)

25kg pebbles ($75)

20 x 4"nails (45)

30 x 1" screws ($5)

PVA Adhesive ($5) from the $2 shop!

Seat squabs $48 each from TradeMe (NZ version of Ebay)

Total per chair approx $356

Tools used

Chop saw

Skill saw

Hammer

Drill

Screwdriver

Square

Pencil

Rule

Spatula (for tile cement)

Sponges/squeegee for grout

Old tooth brush (grout)

when complete the chairs are very heavy (60kg+) so assistance is helpful in moving, I was on my own and used a sack truck!

Step 1: Cut the Legs

Most of the measurements are completely arbitary, as they depend how high you want the chair and what size your seat squabs are (mine were 600mmx460mmx 60mm thick)

So first cut 4 legs from 4x4 mine were 600mm long

Step 2: Recess Legs

Cut 2" wide slots on two sides of each leg 1' deep, I used the chop saw for this but you can use a skill saw (circular saw) or chisel out as you want

Step 3: Cut Bottom Rails

Side and back rail are 4x2, front is 2x2, lengths to suit squab size (ie backrail on mine was 670mm (600 squab + 2x 25mm recess + 10mm each side for tiling)

Step 4: Assemble Bottom Rail

I nailed it in both directions with 4" nails, make sure it is square (measure diagonals)

Step 5: Cut Top Rails

Made from 4x2 to fit, half lap joints at rear (again done with chop saw)

Step 6: Fit Seat Base

As you can see hereiI had already put top rails on, it is much easier to put the base in first - my bad!

base is made from 10mm ply as fits

Step 7: Fit Top Rails

Again all nailed down with 4" nails (fine carpentry skills at work!)

Step 8: Panel Out

Panel all surfaces with ply I used 1" screws to put them on, you can use ceramic floor tiles to panel if you want at this point and have a nice tiled chair - your choice but cutting them is a b#######

Step 9: Paint and Seal

I painted the exposed legs, base and back with black enamel (as I had some loafing around), all the other surfaces had a wash of watered down PVA to seal and aid adhesion of tile cement. I also eased all the corners with a plane as it will make sticking stuff on easier!

Step 10: Tile

This is tedious with small pebbles it took hours, fortunately we had a 15 hour power cut and I had nothing else to do (it was finished by torch light) do a small area at a time and grout on completion. If you mix a bit of the coloured grout in with the cement then grouting is easier as you dont have to cover every little exposed bit of white cement--wish I'd thought of that earlier!

I used a tooth brush to get the grout in, give it a good wash down before the cement sets, and another after grouting and polish up on completion ( a spray of silicon gives a nice shine) then fit squabs

These could be made from pallet timber if wanted, I used old ply that had previously been a floor cover at work and was in a skip, all the other stuff was offcuts that I had from other projects, you could also save some dosh by doing a sneaky collection of beach pebbles)

Each chair took about 2 days from start to finish (the second one was a bit quicker as I had thought some of the bits through)