Refinishing our Adirondack Chairs

We have nice Adirondack chairs we bought about 7 years ago from a small hand-crafted furniture maker in Nisswa, MN, Natural Tones Rustic Furniture. We love them- they are well-built, and very comfortable to sit in. When we bought them, the builder advised that every 2 years we give them another coat of Benjamin Moore Arborcoat Clear Coat, which I've faithfully done, and we store them in the garage over the winters. Over the years, though, the finish was starting to deteriorate, and with all of the tree pollen in our backyard we have an issue with surface mold and mildew. This spring we saw it was time for some deep cleaning, and I started by doing a scrubbing with a bleach solution.

Our spray tool contained a bleach solution

As I was scrubbing the chairs, some of the matte stain coating started to come up, as well, and with the overall appearance of the chairs, I knew a refresh of the stain coat was in order. Fortunately, I had our furniture receipt, on which the builder had indicated the stain type and color, Benjamin Moore Arborcoat Solid Stain in the color California Rustic. I had the local Hirshfields mix up a pint and did a sanding and repaint job in the garage, followed by an application of the clear Arborcoat.

After cleaning and sanding, before repainting with the solid stain

After refinishing

Looking good again