Adirondack Loveseat

Hi Everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

For this first post, I'm going big or going home. (Since I'm already home, it's very low risk).

Last Fourth of July I was up near Lake Placid, NY. Beautiful place up there; picturesque mountains, lush forests, and a lake full of killer crocodiles. (Note: there weren't actually any crocs there. Curse you Hollywood and your lies!). It's not hard to imagine why people up there sit outside in Adirondack chairs, drinking moonshine and taking it all in.

The Adirondack chair is a low-seated chair made of wooden planks that sits at a reclined angle, allowing the user to ergonomically view the surrounding scenery. As an added bonus, the angle of the chair also helps to avoid seeing all of the wasted college kids stumbling along the lake shore.

I decided I really wanted one for some reason, although I have no porch and no Adirondack mountains to look at from my apartment. Unfortunately, there's no way I could cram one of those bad boys into my Corolla. So as soon as I got home, I sketched out a plan to make my own deluxe version:

The loveseat I designed comfortably seats two, and requires minimal amounts of woodcutting. All of the boards, construction materials and paint I purchased from Home Depot ("Let's do this" they say, and I listened). At most stores, they will actually cut the fixed length boards to your specifications for 1$/cut, saving you the mess and appendage/security deposit loss in your current residence. Here is a quick rundown of the materials I got and how I had them cut:

6-(1"x6"x8') #2 whitewood pine boards; cut to 2-3' each

2-(1"x4"x8') #2 whitewood pine boards; cut to 4-2', 8-1'

1-(1"x2"x8') oak framing lumber; hand cut to 2-3'

1-(1"x8') dowel; hand cut to 3.5'

4-2"x2" L brackets

6-1"x1" L brackets

1 box of 3/4" drywall screws

1 box of 1/2" wood screws

1box of 4" heavy screws (approx 1/4" thick)

1 small can of outdoor latex paint, cherry red

Expected cost: Under 100$, plus mistakes and minor bodily harm

Time commitment: After a double espresso, about 6hrs

(Some general notes and tips: "=inches, '=feet; #-(H x W x L). Boards from lumber departments will be fabricated with the listed dimensions as the maximum dimensions, and will usually be consistently shorter/thinner than the actual numbers across the same board type. I planned for this in my design and thus tried to keep board types the same across each surface. Please be careful when cutting and assembling your own wood... wear eye and hand protection!)

After some trial and error (and multiple trips to Home Depot), I assembled the chair piece by piece in my living room. First I assembled the chair back by laying out the 1"x6" boards adjacent to one another and then placing the oak framing boards in a V shape across them. I used one drywall screw per pine board along the length of the oak pieces, first drilling pilot holes with a small drill bit (less than the width of the screw) to avoid splitting the wood. Then, the seat came together as one piece, using screws applied to the top and bottom of the stacked 1"x6" boards to hold them together, followed by the framing pieces of the seat. Framing pieces were secured to the underside of the seat boards by using drywall screws. Chair seat and back were then joined using 4-2" L brackets on the underside of the seat and the backside of the chair back.

The chair arms/legs were assembled as combined units, with 4-1" L brackets as support underneath the armrests and drywall screws inserted into the tops of the arms (and thus into the top ends of the legs). The long 4" screws were then inserted through the chair legs, seat framing pieces, and the seat itself for additional seat support and to join the arms/legs with the seat/back. The long screws had to be inserted carefully, because the width of these long screws inserted too forcibly or askew into the seat can cause splitting of the 1" pine seat boards.

After all of this, I placed the dowel directly behind the space where the seat back formed an angle with the rear extension of the armrests. Two 1" L brackets held the dowel in this position, albeit somewhat unsightly. Wood screws were also inserted through the dowel and into the armrests from the top, as well as through the dowel and into the seatback. The dowel helps to support the oak framing pieces and thus the force applied to the back of the chair. This also helps to distribute the force applied by body weight between the angled seat and the chair back, making the chair very sturdy.

Then the fun part. I laid down about six sets of Target ads on the floor, popped open the can of paint and went to town (in a well ventilated area, i.e. my living room with the fan on and windows open). While some people would recommend sanding and painting each wooden piece prior to assembly, I failed to decide on the paint color prior to assembly, thus making my decision to paint the intact chair a non-decision. Without sanding the wood, the applied paint coat will have an uneven "rustic" look, which is kind of what I wanted anyway. Remember to apply the paint thinly, using long strokes going along the grain of the wood for best results. You can even paint directly over the L brackets so they don't stick out against the color of the chair.

As a finishing touch I ordered a custom made furniture pad for my labor of love. The cost of the pad was easily more than the loveseat itself (ordered online, 2" foam with joined seat and back pads), but definitely makes it more comfortable (and handsome). If you order a pad online: "measure twice, order once"!

Sure it took a while to design and build, and cost more than I thought. But now I have a wonderful piece of furniture in my otherwise sparse living room that I can say I built myself. 

There are some things in life you can buy. For everything else, there's the Adirondack Loveseat.