Outdoor Chairs Repurposed
6 Materials
$25
2 Days
Medium
Found these metal chairs on the side of the road with the mesh which was all torn up. I figured I could do something with them to make them pretty. Of course my husband thought I was crazy so I set out to prove him wrong.
First thing I did was remove the rest of the mesh that was on one of the chairs and unscrewed the metal straps from both chairs which is what held the mesh in place on the chairs. Once that was done I wiped down both chairs with soap and water. Fortunately I had no rust to contend with so I was ready to start transforming them into something nice.
First thing we did was measure and cut the 1x4s to the length we needed. Next you want to place each board on the seat part of the chair with spacers (if you want spaces in between each plank). We used spacers that we ripped to 1/4in from a 1x3 we had.
We placed each precut plank on the seat portion of the chair with the spacer between each plank. You will now need to find and mark the edge of the board where the center of the tubing meets the plank so you know where to put the carriage bolts. Make sure you number the boards on the back so you will know the order. All metal we found is not exactly straight when it comes to these chairs.
Once we had our boards marked we transferred that mark across the top of the board and found the center. Did this on both ends of the all planks. That is where we would predrill pilot holes for the carriage bolts. You want to drill the holes while the plank is off the chair. Once we predrilled the pilot holes we put the seat planks back on chair in order in which we numbered them so the holes would line up like we marked. You will want to clamp each board down and get extra hands for the next step to hold down plank while the hole is being drilled in the base.
Using the same drill bit we drilled through the hole on the plank all the way through the metal of the chair. Once the plank and the metal base had the same hole we removed the planks and drilled a larger hole for carriage bolt to go through. Planks were put back on chairs and larger hole drilled through the metal. Carriage bolt was then fit in place to make sure it went all the through. Repeat for the rest of the seat. While the bottom seat is still bolted we began to do the same for the back. Once all is done we remove the planks and sprayed the base with Rustoleum Hammered in black and then sanded the planks and wiped on Minwax Red Oak on planks. We also sprayed the bolts, nuts and washers the same black as the base.
I really love the way they came out. Working on a rusted metal porch swing to match this set of chairs.
And now I have a matching set!! Love the way they came out and with very little money.
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4 of 16 comments
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really cool
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They look great.
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Thank you. I just finished a matching metal porch swing that I will be posting soon. Which I think will look great with the chairs.
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