Adirondack Chairs

Have you ever heard the saying, "All work and no play makes a man boring?" or something to that effect? Well, hubs says I am a lot of play and a little work. He likes to work before he plays, I love to play and maybe work! So, although I wanted to make these chairs right after making the loveseat, I needed to work first. So work I did. 15 loads of laundry is work, right? Or was it 20? I lost count somewhere along the way. All I know is that the laundry is clean and I mean ALL THE LAUNDRY! I also know that we need larger closets and when we go to Minneapolis for our vacation, we DON'T need to buy clothes!
So, here are the two adirondack chairs I made last Thursday and Friday. It was a perfect rainy day activity!

I also got my 7-year old to take some pictures of me actually working just so you had proof that I indeed know how to use the mitre saw, the circular saw, the jig saw and my 18V Dewalt baby! Like the tool belt and ear protection? Neither is actually mine but I am quite sure that if I had a pink belt, I wouldn't lose it (or, more accurately, it wouldn't be stolen by the kids!)! I am also sure that if I had that pink belt, no one would take me seriously. That is, until they saw these chairs! First, I cut all the pieces (which are all 1x stock) to size with the mitre saw. I didn't use the top grade wood, even using strapping for the 1x4's - but with a bit of sanding, I think it looks just fine. It is cheaper, too. Each chair only cost about $16.

Then I started assembling them. After the first day, this is as far as I got. My pelvis was complaining again and this time I listened and stopped.

The next morning I attached the rest of the seat slats and arm rests


and rounded the back with a jigsaw.


And before lunch, I had two beautiful chairs staring back at me!


Of course, the kids needed to jump in for a picture to make sure the chairs actually "worked".


Once again, I am so thrilled with how they turned out. My gazebo looks so much better with these pieces of furniture than with lawn chairs!


As I mentioned earlier, the pattern is from Family Handyman and the instructions are super easy to follow. What isn't written out in the text is spelled out in the detailed diagrams. The only very minor modification I made was to round the corners of the armrests - I figured it worked better with the round backs and then no one would catch themselves on those corners. And did I mention they are comfortable?

I already purchased the fabric necessary to make throw pillows for them (buy 1 metre, get 3 metres FREE - are you serious?) so maybe that will be the project for this week. You know after I do more work! Cannot be all play and no work, can I? :)

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