Refinish Outdoor Wood Furniture (easy with stain!)

|
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see disclosures here.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

Hey there friends! I thought I’d share a little outdoor post today. And an easy way to refinish outdoor wood furniture.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

I hadn’t planned to post about this when I began the project so I didn’t get the before “before” shot of the furniture. I was simply working on our outdoor areas to make them nice so we can enjoy our summer out here. If you follow along on Instagram, you might have seen some stories I shared while I was refinishing the furniture. AND on our patio that my husband also was working on. (it was already there, we just re-do the “grout” with polymeric sand every few years…we last did it in 2016)

But as I finished up sanding the furniture, I thought, “hey, this might be helpful to my readers…I might ought to share it on the blog!”.

And so I took this “before” photo…

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

This was after my son pressure washed them for me and I did a light sanding on them.

As you can see in the photo, I did have a crack in the piece of wood on the bench back, so glued and clamped it before staining.

How To Refinish Outdoor Wood Furniture (with stain, so easy!)

And it was easy, y’all. So easy! (and quick too)

BUT…before we get started on the makeover, let me show you how this furniture looked when it was new in 2016.
I haven’t done one thing to it since then. (you can also see what our grass usually looks like too…we’ve had so much rain it’s just a mess right now)

Anyway, hop over to this post to see it when it was new >>> “Screened Porch & Patio Makeover

I had considered giving them a whitewash and leaving them at that. But in the end, I really wanted to put something on them that would protect them better.

Step 1

Before beginning, you will want to make sure you don’t have any loose or rough wood areas. If you do, sand them to smooth them out.
We pressure washed ours because there was old brown paint still on parts of the wood that needed to be removed. You can skip that though.
Once the wood was dry, I sanded it to smooth everything out.

As you’ll notice in the photos, I wasn’t too worried about getting all of the old brown color off but I did go back and sand some more areas to make sure it was smooth and porous as to accept the stain.

I moved the chairs up onto our screened porch so they could dry out completely by letting them sit for a few days. Then I began staining.

Step 2

Stain the wood.

I used Cabot Australian Timber Oil in Jarrah Brown. You can find it >>> here.

The can recommends using a lambswool applicator but I didn’t have that so just used an old washcloth instead. It worked just fine.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

It also says to try not to overlap and that it’s best to do the application all at one time, if possible.
Which I did and it took no time at all.
This was truly one of the easiest DIY projects ever.

Just look at that gorgeous color…I actually like it better than the original brown shade it came in.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

What a difference. 
It’s like watching this furniture come back to life!

You can see here some of the old original brown shade from before. As I mentioned, I didn’t bother with going so far as to try to remove all of that brown…only smoothing it out with some sanding beforehand.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

If it bothers you, you can sand all the way down though.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

I didn’t mind the variations.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

Since I hadn’t really done anything to this furniture since we bought it in 2016, we did end up having a broken piece of wood here and there.
My husband cut this small piece from some old pallet wood hoping it would match well.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

And it ended up matching pretty good.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

After I was done with all of the restaining, I let them sit inside our screened porch for about 3 days.
I wanted to make sure they were good and dry before putting them in our crazy weather. The can recommends 24-48 hours.

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

I am SO thrilled with how they turned out.

They look like brand new to me!

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

Oh! And the planters that I bought also back in 2016 originally had a blend of flowers in it. I considered planting some new flowers in them but thought they would be perfect for herbs instead.

So this one got Mojito Mint… (that’s what it was called…is that really a thing? lol)

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

And this one got Basil…

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

We are also planning a raised garden bed on the other side of this patio for vegetables. We are getting started on it now so I hope to share that with you all too.
Just add that to the crazy list of ours over here. ;) Keep an eye out on my Instagram stories because I am sure I’ll share the progress over there!

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

Who knew this was all it took to refinish outdoor wood furniture and have it look so good? I sure didn’t.

PIN it to save it!

Learn how to quickly, and simply, refinish outdoor wood furniture with just one product! Make your patio furniture look better than brand new. artsychicksrule.com #restainoutdoorfurniture #refinishoutdoorfurniture #patiofurnituremakeover

I hope you enjoyed today’s post and you found it helpful. I had never really refinished outdoor wood furniture in the past so I was surprised at how simple (and quick) it was to do. I am completely thrilled with the results.

Guess what? I have a brand “new” set to makeover next! I’m going to give it that brand new teak look in a completely different way than I did on today’s outdoor furniture…

UPDATE!! See how it turned out now, here!

Have a wonderful and safe weekend, friends!

xoxo


46 Comments

  1. Wow it is beautiful now. I used that same stain on our deck a few years ago and I used it in a different color, but I love that stain, it works so good!! Your patio is looking awesome! Good job!

    1. Thank you, Christina! We are definitely enjoying our patio! Now the weather just needs to cooperate more often! ;) xo

    1. Oh yes, those came with the chairs when I bought it. They have a little flap on each side that goes through the backs of the chairs and attach with velcro. Pretty neat, actually! xo

  2. Great job! It does look brand new. This is a very timely post, because I have an outdoor bench that I need to refinish. I will now that I know the results can be this good!

  3. Wow it looks so good…like brand new! I can’t wait to get outside and take the pressure washer to everything! XOXO

  4. The darker color is much better than whitewash for this set, it really stands out on the pavers. Beautiful job, Nancy, and impressive that you were able to complete it between all the rain showers!

    1. I think so too!! SO glad I went in this direction and not that. And yes, hoping our weather starts staying nicer now. :) xo

  5. How nice the set looks! The seat and back cushions look nice too. I’m debating whether to get teak wood or the outdoor wicker this year. My stuff is so beyond hope and it’s a big expense so I want to get the best BANG for my bucks! Stay safe and be strong! Enjoy the beautiful weather!

    1. Thanks, Cecilia! Oh…decisions!! Both are nice!! Same to you…and yes, hoping the weather has turned a corner and will continue staying more seasonable! xoxo

    1. Thanks, Cynthia! We are definitely enjoying it! It’s amazing how different a space feels when it’s been refreshed. :) xoxo

  6. What an incredible makeover! I like the half cushions on the back of the bench & chairs. Would you mind sharing where they came from?

    1. Thank you, Tammi! Oh yes, they came with the set. (which came from World Market) I don’t think they have the set any longer, unfortunately.

    1. No, not necessarily. Mine was probably worn enough that I didn’t need to do much. (and I didn’t really) But I did want to smooth out the wood somewhat as it had gotten a bit rough over the years in places. If you have a very good finish still attached (shiny, etc) then yes, you would want to sand it to make it possible for the stain to absorb into the wood better. :)

      1. Your furniture does look brand new! Beautiful! Does this stain protect it from rain, etc. or do you need to apply a sealer? Thanks! Judy

  7. Did you sand the wood by hand? Or use power? Could you use a palm sander or something?. The sanding sounds like the hard part. 😝

    1. Hi Sue! I didn’t worry too much about some of those parts I couldn’t get to like that. BUT you can use a small (skinny) chip brush or something similar to reach those areas. For the slats, I just soaked the rag I was using and tried to get as much as I could with it. :)

  8. Wow!! Nancy, this furniture looks amazing now! What an awesome job!!! My sister picked up a rocker that matches your set on the side of the road last year. I’m gonna share this with her. Thanks so much!!!

  9. Wow they look brand new. I wish I had done this to our teak table set but it now has rotted areas on the table and benches.

    1. Thanks, Debra! Yes, I couldn’t believe how well it worked. Aww, yes, if you can replace those pieces easily, you could still give this a try! Have a great weekend! :) xo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.