Repurposed Garden Bench made from Chairs

This repurposed garden bench made from chairs was going to be a kid’s bench. But, as you will see I had some issues with the color. In the end, it seemed perfect as a garden bench instead.

The garden bench was made from kindergarten chairs from my teacher days.

How to Make a Repurposed Garden Bench out of Kindergarten Chairs

While digging for chairs, I had difficulty finding two identical school chairs. These odd-sized chairs remind me of Goldilocks!

Finally, I found two that were close enough.

Dismantle Kids’ Chairs

First, I had to remove the screws to take the chair seats off.

I was making a double-chair bench for kids, but the tutorial will be the same if you have grown-up chairs. But, like I said, my plans changed to make a repurposed garden bench instead.

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Remove Chair Back Cross Pieces

I need to remove the existing backs because I want to use wood planks for the back of the bench. The jigsaw made this task very easy. Please don’t attempt to take a rubber mallet to them to separate the chair back.

This photo shows why you want to use a saw to remove the back of the chair. You will be cutting the dowels with the jigsaw. By leaving the dowel attached, you don’t have a hole that you need to patch.

When you cut both back rungs, your chair should look like the one on the left.

You may need to sand the dowels down a little. But if you had pounded them with a rubber mallet, you would have had many holes to fill where the dowels had been.

Thoroughly Clean Chairs

All of these chairs were very, very grimy. I used TSP, washing and rinsing with the hose.

However, this might be the first time TSP didn’t complete the job. I had to resort to Krud Kutter. After spraying it on and letting it set briefly, I rinsed it away. The chairs felt squeaky clean after all of that.

Cut Planks for Repurposed Garden Bench

My lumber inventory was getting pretty slim, so I worked with what I had on hand. I chose two wide planks for the seat and three narrow planks for the back. You may know I always stress over paint colors. I wanted to do a two-toned look—staining the planks and painting the chairs.

Sand & Stain Planks

I used the orbital sander to smooth all the boards and rounded over the edges for a smoother finish.

I chose a hickory gel stain for the planks, as I am still undecided about what color to paint the school chairs. I applied it with a chip brush.

Then things started going very wrong, and it took quite a while to make all of this come together.

Use Gel Stain on Chairs

Since I used a gel stain on the planks, I also decided to stain the school chairs. Did you know that gel stains will adhere to previously finished surfaces? Can you believe the difference between the two chairs?

Attach Repurposed Garden Bench Planks

At this point, I was trying to decide the placement of the wood planks on the school chair bench. The Kreg Multi-tool is helpful when you want the overhang to match.

I used scrap wood pieces to help me decide how to separate the planks for the back of the chair bench. The boards/planks were tacked in place with my nail gun.

So, I don’t love it in pictures. It looks better in real life, and I’m pleased with the stain.

Why Doesn’t the Stain Match?

Applying a second coat of stain on the planks seemed like a good idea, but it still didn’t match the chairs.

Why Not Try Sanding?

I sanded it a little to try to lighten the stain. Yeah, that didn’t work. I secured the planks with screws after pre-drilling countersink holes. At this point, I was getting pretty discouraged. I have said SO often that COLOR can make or break a project. Getting the color right on this project was challenging for me.

Okay, it gets worse before it gets better.

Plan B is a Bust!

I put all these pictures in a collage to make it easier. Generally, I love using Vaseline to get a chippy distressed look. However, I was not too fond of how the plank boards looked WITH the chair color. I put the bench away for a few days, tired of working on it.

Last Ditch Effort to Redeem the Repurposed Garden Bench Color

When I was ready to revisit the repurposed garden chair project, I used the same gray paint that I had used above on the chippy section. I mixed the paint with Plaster of Paris to make my diy chalky paint primer. Regular latex paint would never adhere to the stained chairs.

The gray looks much lighter than it should have. I took this picture as an “in “progress” shot because I had planned for this to be a primer coat. But, the repurposed garden bench was finally growing on me. Can you tell it’s small in the picture? Or does it look like full-sized chairs? It’s a bit of an optical illusion.

I am “calling it DONE”. For a simple build, this project took much too long to finish.

Pretty Repurposed Garden Bench (finally)

Do you love it? I can honestly say I do now, even after it put me through all that stress and work!

This garden bench isn’t the one I’ve made. Years ago, I used dining chairs to make a kid’s bench, but then it got a do-over and became a bench for flowers and more.

I have a lot of patience, but this repurposed garden bench almost ended up in the burn pile! No, not really—but I was tired of working on the color. Do you think it ended up okay? Or would you have left it the original wood tone I started with?

UPDATE

Well, a week later, I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I had already written this post and put it in the queue for publication. The bench got a little scratched as I was staging it for photos, meaning it needed to be waxed or sealed. I had spent a few hours waxing a chest of drawers that turned out less than perfect, so of course, I opted for my favorite smoked glaze.

Using a chip brush, I applied the glaze very lightly.

Finally, I’m calling this repurposed garden bench done!

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Do tell me what you would have done differently.

gail