Patio Furniture Mini-Makeover

Four years ago we bought our outdoor dining set at IKEA.  Every six months Dev would coat the wood in linseed oil to keep it conditioned, and my plan was to let it just age naturally to a fine, mellow gray.  Unfortunately, the furniture was coated in some sort of finish that resisted aging gracefully.  Instead, the surface became flaky, discolored, scratched and pitted, and the whole set started to look like it was falling apart.

BEFORE

AFTER

Back when we started working on our outdoor room last spring, I had intended to refinish the dining set but kept putting it off because it seemed like an exhausting project.  In fact, it was much less painful than I'd feared and definitely worth it.

First I thoroughly scoured the two tables and six chairs with soap and water, then Dev retightened all the bolts and used wood glue to fix any places where things were coming loose. 

Then I sanded the whole set with an electric sander.  I stained everything a color very close to what they were when we bought them.  Then one coat of sanding sealer, then more sanding by hand with steel wool, then a coat of polyeurethane, then more sanding, another coat of polyeurethane, more sanding, and so on for three coats total.  And done!

Watch that water bead up on the poly-coated surface

They tables look great and should keep their finish for a long time (the polyeurethane is UV-stable but I imagine at some point in the far-away future it will need to be touched up again).
 

All in all it took about 24 hours to finish everything and cost $0 (we already had sanding sealer and polyeurethane left over from previous projects and the old owners had left some stain in the garage).

It's like having a brand new outdoor dining set! And one that doesn't have to be oiled every six months anymore, either.