A few weeks ago my family and I visited our friends who live in Colorado and made a gorgeous pair of Adirondack Chairs. They had just purchased this beautiful picturesque home on the side of the mountain that has some incredible views. With a sprawling deck and some gorgeous landscape, they were lacking one simple thing to make it all perfect….seating!
How to Make an Adirondack Chair
We decided to make a couple of benches to add to my friend’s large deck. While those benches turned out amazing, we needed more. They had a pair of plastic Adirondack chairs that just were not fairing well with the windy Colorado weather.
That’s when we decided we needed to make a plan and build some Adirondack Chairs. These would be able to handle the wind better!
DIY Adirondack Chair
This deck has the absolute most beautiful views!
We decided to make a couple of benches to add seating on their large deck, and a couple of beautiful diy adirondack chairs for their deck off of their bedroom.
In order to build a nice pair of Adirondack chairs, we needed a good plan. Luckily with the internet, there is always a good plan to have. We chose this plan from Ana White, but we also made a few changes along the way.
This plan really was a great plan to use, and one I would highly recommend for anyone who is planning on building an adirondack chair in the future. There were just a few simple changes that we made along the way to make this chair unique for her patio.
Planning to build an Adirondack Chair
I found the best way to use this plan is to print everything out, read it over a couple of times, and then start cutting the pieces you will need for your chair. Once you have all of the pieces cut, it’s time to start putting things together. I began by building the base of the chair.
Believe it or not, this can go really fast. However, our legs were not siting perfectly flat. When you make the build you will probably find that you will need to cut an angle on feet of the front legs as we did. We did this to have the seat sit perfectly flat, and this was the first small change that we made with the cuts.
The second part that we changed was the back of the chair. While the plans call for a straight back, my friends opted for the look of a rounded back. That was the second change we made.
We kept the middle board 30 1/2″ in length, and then shortened the two boards next to it by 1.5″, and then the outside boards by another 1.5″. We used a compass to draw the round edges, and then used a jigsaw and a sander to smooth everything out.
After the back was made, we then attached it to the base of the chair. The last change we made to this plan was angling the arm boards. The arm boards are 25 1/2″ 1 x 4 boards and we angled then from gradually from 1 x 4 up front to 1 x 3 towards the back of the chair. See below.
Adirondack Chair Tutorial
After those few changes were made, we put a beautiful coat of paint on them and placed them on the deck. The color is called Whirld Peas and it is made by Valspar. I LOVE this color.
I also really love the way these Adirondack Chairs turned out.
I simply adored these Adirondack chairs. I even tried to bring them back with me! I guess I will have to make my very own DIY Adirondack chair for my own deck next.
I hope you enjoyed this post and found these few changes helpful. Are you on Instagram? I would love for you to follow PinkWhen on Instagram and get a sneak peek for all of our projects and recipes before they are posted.
If you liked this post, you should check out the farmhouse table and benches I made last year. You can also find this fun and easy $20 DIY Patio Bench.
Farmhouse Table Tutorial
I never would have thought to make these myself, but it actually is mostly an assembly challenge. I think adirondack chairs are very comfortable. Our beach club just put 2 red ones on a hill and they look so appealing. Great idea!!
Thanks Seana! They are super comfy…which is why I kept threatening to bring them home after we built them. 🙂 LOVED this project.
These are so gorgeous! This is what I wanted to give Cassidy for our six year anniversary. I think “wood” was the traditional or modern gift idea. And we could use these very much.
Thanks Tamara! 🙂
Jen!!! I can’t believe that you made these! You are so talented. I’ve been eyeing adirorondack chairs for years but the nice ones are so expensive. Putting this on my “To Do” list.
these chairs are so fun!! love the color too! Thanks for linking up to Create Link Inspire party.. I’m working ahead this weekend, but you will be featured on Sat in my Summer DIY ideas ;o) Hope you can stop by then and show the post some love… Emily
These chairs are just what we need! I’ll have to share the plans with my husband and see if we can knock them out this summer. I love the subtle changes you made to the plan.
I’ve always liked the look and sleek lines of these chairs too. I did find some “resin” Adirondack chairs at a local Walmart, but weren’t that sturdy. Price was nice, but I want something that will last a long time. I have a mobile home & have a large front porch that these would look great on! Maybe this summer, I might be able to try my hand at making at least 1 to start with. I already own a jigsaw and have a hand sander, so the rest is just getting the material. I’m already busy with other home reno projects. Thanks for sharing & posting the step-by-step instructions for this project!
Just curious… about how much did it cost for the chairs before paint? We have contemplated making them before, but I have not priced it out – vs. buying as I know they are super expensive that route.
Gosh it was last summer when we made these. I know that the chairs we looked at cost between $50 and $60 each (and they may have been plastic), but the wood, screws, and paint might have added up to the cost of one of those. Plus, it was fun making them!