A Quick And Easy Way To Re-Stain Adirondack Chairs

If you could choose between staining your wood deck furniture in a few days or an afternoon, which would you pick? I thought so! Save your knees and valuable time by tossing the brush and trying this quick and easy way to re-stain Adirondack chairs.

Easy Way To Stain Adirondack Chairs

The last time I stained our Adirondack furniture it took worn knees, a lot of sweat, and two long days to get the job done. A chore I had no intention of repeating twice.

This time, using a paint sprayer, I had two Adirondack chairs and a tete-a-tete stained two coats in an afternoon. What took the longest was waiting for paint to dry. I even had time to give our Adirondack fire bowl table a new color before the dinner bell rang.

Deck Makeover - Project Five

Refreshing our outdoor living space on a beer budget!

For this project, I pulled out the big guns, the pneumatic HVLP (high volume low pressure) siphon feed spray gun that came with our Husky 20-gallon air compressor.

In all honesty, I would have preferred using the gravity feed spray gun that also came with the compressor but I couldn't get the cap off because of my injured hand (you can read about that in Deck Makeover Project Five).

Mine is an older model - the new ones have a handy screw top on the cannister. With the gravity feed model, you can adjust the paint flow, width pattern and flow direction.

But the siphon model got the job done none-the-less.

Prep the furniture for stain

Lucky for me my Adirondack furniture had been stained only a couple of years ago and were in good shape. The only reason I re-stained them is to change the color.

Clean the furniture with a power washer. Remove any flaking or peeling stain with a paint scraper. If that doesn't do the trick you may need to use a stainer remover.

Staining with a paint sprayer tips

• In order to get the correct velocity, it had to be thinned to approximately 1 cup of water to 1 gallon of stain. Note: if your stain isn't water based you'll need the appropriate thinner. 
• Check the spray first on a piece of cardboard or scrap wood.
• To avoid paint build up, start the spray before holding the trigger and move your arm (not wrist) across the surface and continue after releasing the trigger.
• Hold the sprayer about six inches from the surface.
• Apply light even coats (ours took two coats).
• Wipe the tip of the sprayer regularly to avoid build up.
• Clean the sprayer thoroughly when you're done following the manufacturer's instructions.
• Don't store the paint in the cannister.

Staining with a paint sprayer - first coat

Start by staining the chairs upside down so any drips towards the front can be fixed before that side is stained. The recommended dry time between coats is 6-8 hours but I didn't inherit the patience gene and confess to not waiting that long.

Right or wrong, I cut the time in half because the stain dries much quicker when sprayed in light even coats. It also helped that it was a sunny warm day outside.

The total cure time for this solid stain is 72 hours.

This is after the first coat of Behr Premium Navajo White Exterior Wood Solid Stain on both our Adirondack chairs and tete-a-tete. It literally took all of five minutes to stain both pieces - happy dance!

To get a good idea of what color they used to be, pictured below is our DIY Adirondack Fire Bowl Table before in sage green.

And here it is after being sprayed with Sea Foam Behr Premium Exterior Wood Solid Stain. The stain colors on the furniture are the same as the DIY Painted Rug and skirting around the deck.

I'm saving the pretty shots of the chairs with their new cushions for the deck makeover reveal. But in the meantime here they are re-stained and on the deck.

Don't my annuals look pathetic? I'm embarrassed to show them to you. The deck wasn't finished until late June so the flowers haven't had time to establish. Finger's crossed the fertilizer kicks in before the deck reveal.

I've included a materials list below of the products I used or recommend for this project. It contains affiliate links which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, I may receive a small portion of any sales at no additional cost to you. See my full disclosure policy.

Materials List

• Hose or Power Washer (to clean chairs first)
• 1-gallon Sea Foam Green (SC-132) Behr Premium Exterior Wood Solid Stain
• 1-gallon Najavo White (SC-157) Behr Premium Exterior Wood Solid Stain
• Drop Cloth/Tarp
• Husky 20-Gallon Air Compressor (alternatives)
• Pneumatic Husky HVLP Gravity Feed Spray Gun (alternatives)

Deck Makeover Series Recap

Project One - DIY Birdhouse Sign
Project Two - Budget-Friendly Deck Restore
Project Three - Easy DIY Solar Fence Lights
Project Four - How To Stain A Super Easy DIY Outdoor Rug
Project Five - A Quick And Easy Way To Re-Stain Adirondack Chairs
Project Six - An Adorable DIY Deck Bench For Two - coming Thursday

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