Harriet goes outdoors, dressed to impress!

Submitted by E.A.Y. on Tue, 08/27/2013 - 14:26

It took me a long time to finish the chairs, although the table was a snap. The time consuming thing was my desire for two paint colors. Painting is not my strong suit. But I got it done, just in time for our annual Labor Day house party.
I cut the lumber using our radial arm saw. I sanded with an random orbital sander, and used really great cordless drill and driver. My husband likes to buy good tools, but hardly ever uses them.
I had never used pocket screws before: I love them and found it very necessary to use the face clamp and right angle clamp Kreg sells to prevent splitting. My assortment of speedclamps were not getting the job done.
For the table, I tried masking off the white when I painted the red on the legs, which did not go so well as there was annoying paint-creep under the tape. I also decided that the red paint needed two coats to look good (it actually seemed to do better on bare wood then on primed wood.) So that took more time.
I finally bought a really good paint brush and that made a huge and positive difference.
I had intended to paint the chairs' slats red, but the back frame white, and the side supports red. To do this I intended to paint individual pieces and assemble the painted pieces, but the splitting (before I invested in the specialized clamps) was heartbreaking after all the sanding and painting. So I took a month off from the project, ordered clamps, recut a few pieces, and simplified my paint scheme. Much better!
I'm looking forward to starting my next project (NO paint!)

Estimated Cost
$70 (USD) for lumber, $37 paint, $25 for screws (leftovers)
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Benjamin Moore exterior soft gloss in red and white
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

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