A (Like) New Patio Set

When we first moved into our home seven years ago, my sweet mother gifted us with an outdoor patio set from Ikea. It came with a wooden table, two chairs and a bench. Once we assembled it, it looked very much like this...

For the past seven years, this set has sat (and weathered) on our back porch. It no longer looked like the above picture. At various times over the years, we've attempted to give it an oil treatment but it never looked quite the same. Quite frankly, refinishing the table was just not at the top of our list of things to do...especially after kids came along.

However, since we started our plans to remodel our backyard, we've thought about replacing our patio set. We would love to buy a nice metal set with thick cushions...but with all the other expenses in fixing up the yard, I thought it might be more prudent to try to refinish the set we have. Since Brett was busy tackling the yard, I took on the task of fixing up the patio set on my own.

I started out by using our electric sander to take off the old layers of oil and stain...and dirt. Then I wiped down the furniture to remove the dust. I won't lie to you, it took me a few afternoons while my girlies napped to sand it all down. Because the furniture has wooden slats, I still had to sand some places by hand. I wasn't too fussed with sanding it perfectly because I hoped the stain would help camoflage the places that I missed. After the hard sanding work was done, it was time for the fun work - the staining!

For the stain/sealer, I chose this nifty all-in-one Krylon Exterior Semi-Transparent Wood Stain that I picked up at my local Ace Hardware on sale for $5/can. This stuff is great -- it provides a stain (7 colors available) as well as a water repellent and UV protection all in an easy spray can! I chose "Earthen Brown" hoping it would help camoflage my imperfect sanding job. After I wiped the dust from the furniture, I put on my protective gloves and got spraying. Since I wanted the wood grain to show through, I sprayed a light coat and then used a paper towel to remove the excess spray. I was able to coat the entire set one time with just one spray can. For extra protection, I decided to add an extra coat of spray and needed to start on a second can. The results? Beautiful! Even my husband was surprised at how nice it looks now. (Unfortunately, our backyard is currently a disaster, and I can't move the chair to a better spot for a picture.)
 
 

 
The best part is that our patio almost like new again...and it cost us only $10 to do it. I hope to post better photos of the entire set when our backyard is finished. Hopefully, that will be before the end of summer!

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