This has definitely been the summer of treasure hunting at yard/estate sales and restoring or repurposing great gems… I promise to share all my cool DIY restoring projects and how to’s!
One of the most amazing finds we have picked up is this rickety old Muskoka Chair love seat at a garage sale for only $4 dollars. It was falling apart, the paint was chipping, and it was practically junk. I had been eyeing Muskoka or “Adriondack” chairs for a while, and have been dreaming about the $300 authentic single wooden ones all summer but opted out for $18 dollar plastic ones from Home Depot instead.
When I saw the almost unsalvageable loveseat version, I knew this was worth the elbow grease, the schlep to get it in the car, and the time it takes to restore it.
Here is what it looked like once I brought it home, I had to take it apart to fit it in the car.
Here is the process it took to bring these beauties back to life:
- Scraped off the old paint, and sanded the chairs
- I had to remove all broken and rotted parts by unscrewing it off and replaced them with new wooden pieces that were cut perfectly to replace the original piece exactly.
- Some of the planks had cracks in them but were useable, so I used wood filler to fill in any cracks, gaps, or chips. Then sanded the filler when dry.
- After checking the stability of the chairs, making sure its not rocky and all parts are screwed in tight, its time to paint it.
*TIP* When shopping at Home Depot, there is always a clearance section on the paints dept where they are selling off paints that people returned. I have found the most amazing premium paints for $9 a gallon. Since I wasn’t set on any particular colour, I checked the paint clearance section and found a great outdoor paint by Behr that was a light grey for only $9 instead of $60. It was meant to be!
6. Drying time: After everything was painted in a thick coat. I left the pieces to dry for about 2 hours.
7. The last step was to put the pieces back together. I brought them up to my balcony, where I most enjoy working or having my morning coffee and screwed the middle table into the 2 chairs on both sides using new screws. ALL DONE and READY TO ENJOY!
I’m sitting on them as i’m writing this post! Thanks for following along… and follow me on Instagram @designwithrev for more DIY and Home decor inspiration!
Design with Rev 