Try new things!

Mike got us these spiffy chairs online* earlier this week from Amazon.  Quite the bargain for two chairs.  Made of fancy eucalyptus wood even.  Mike made some kind of sad terrible joke about destroying panda habitats but the description does say FSC wood, so, I hope the pandas are a-ok.

Strathwood Gibranta chair*

The description also said that there was no oiling or sealing necessary, oh, well, unless of course you want to keep the original color so then yeah, oil or seal.  Before the chairs arrived, we weren't sure if we'd like the color, so I had picked up some spray paint in a fun color.

Once the chairs arrived and Mike assembled them, he decided he liked the color after all so off to Menards I went for oil.

I wasn't sure what to get so I got the Teak Oil from Watco,* mainly because it was the only one that said ok for outdoor use.  Never used this stuff before though I probably should have gotten it last fall for the cutie teak shelf I installed in the master shower.  The first thing I bought for the house; the first thing I installed actually!

Projects like these, yeah, I'm not real into, to be perfectly honest with you.  I'm pretty good at pushing things like this to the dark reaches of the to-do list.  I'd rather be doing fun stuff like the library, or my office wall, or the pallet blinds.

Ah, the chairs.  Pre-oil.  Lookie at all those slats.  Wow.  Slatty.  I spread out a plastic tarp on our rock star patio which I love like mad.

That's a lot of flippin' slats, pieces and parts, under, sides, back, corners, edges....  I can't ever get all Zen with these types of projects and I usually don't follow the directions very well when I'm not fired up about something either.  But.  This is one of those things that had to get done to preserve the chairs.  So, ok.

Water bowl and cushy bed for Hailey on the patio with me and off I went.

It's not easy to see the difference between the oiled and unoiled wood here but as I went along, the wood color deepened.  It's very easy to apply this stuff, just brush it on.  The directions say to flood the first coat, which I tried to do but considering all the parts are thin and small and are not all horizontal, I didn't want to get the oil all over the place.

The directions also say to let the oil sit for thirty minutes, apply another coat, then wipe, then wait 8-10 hours for everything to dry.

Hm.

Yeah.

That whole second coat and wipe thing.  Eh.  That's where my interest goes out the door.  Seems to me one nice soaky coat with a minor pretend quickie wipe will be fine.  Notice a theme, do ya?  The directions are there for a reason, I know, but again, not a lot of patience for extended multi-steps.

Here's one chair done with one coat.

And both chairs done, pre-quickie-patronizing-the-directions wipe.  We shall see!  Now I have to come up with a solution for the cushions as they are super duper boring.  Major yawn.  And the backs, the flaps with velcro to hold them on aren't long enough to well, hold them on.

Last fall I picked up this piece from a guy on Craigslist who lists mighty cool mid-century pieces for stupid cheap.  I paid a whopping $20 for this nifty thing.

It needs some tlc but it's really not too bad off.  It does have some kind of poly-type varnish finish on it but I'm wondering if I can use that teak oil to freshen it up.  The directions say I'd need to sand any pre-existing finish which is a drag.  Wah wah, watch my interest casually step outside....So, we'll see if I get carried away and give this thing a shine.  Or, I've seen that Restor-a-Finish.  Maybe I'll try that instead as no sanding required!  ;)

Well, off to figure out what to make the hubby for dinner and dessert!  At least I know dessert will be good.

Got some fun DIY plans around your place this weekend?

*The chairs and teak oil are an affiliate links.  mwah, thanks!