Is your wooden outdoor furniture starting to show signs of disrepair? Do your beloved, formerly bright and beautiful furniture pieces need a little tender loving care? Just like all your indoor wooden pieces, all your outdoor wooden chairs, tables and benches can go from weathered to wonderful again with a little know-how.

Here’s how.

First, get your tools together. You’ll need:

•A garden hose.
•Sandpaper (the 100 grit type).
•A pump spray bottle.
•Safety goggles.
•A pair of rubber gloves.
•Short-handled scrub brush and long-handled scrub brush with smaller head.
•Deck cleaner and brightener.
•A paint brush.
•Exterior gel stain with applicator.

Here’s what you will need to do:

1) Move the piece you’re repairing so it’s close to your garden hose.

2) Thoroughly spray down your wooden furniture, removing all grime and surface oils.

3) Be sure to wet down the area immediately below your furniture, too. This will dilute any run off.

4) Let your furniture air dry. Now your furniture is ready for the deck cleaner and brightener solution. Applying it when your furniture is dry will allow the solution to adhere evenly and will not dry out too quickly.

5) Put your goggles on to protect your eyes and your gloves on to protect your hands. Pour the deck cleaner and brightener into a spray pump. To avoid streaks, start applying the cleaner at the bottom of the furniture, find more about this.

6) Let the formula sit a minute or two. Using the short-handled brush, lightly scrub the wooden surface from top to bottom to loosen the weather-damaged wood pieces and stubborn dirt.

7) With the smaller brush, clean hard-to-reach places just as thoroughly, but remember to use light strokes. Wet wood splinters easily.

8) Rinse the remaining solution with the garden hose. You’ll see that the wood is now clean and shiny and that the panels almost look new! Allow the furniture to dry.

9) Once the furniture is completely dry, you will note that the wood grain has been raised. You can smooth the grain back down by sanding it lightly with the sandpaper. Don’t overdo it, as you don’t want to remove too much of the wood. If you do that, the material won’t absorb the new coat of finish you’re about to apply.

10) Use a folded piece of sandpaper to sand the “tight spots”. Wedge the sandpaper into the area and sand in the direction of the grain.

11) To keep the furniture safe from the elements and to add a touch of color, add stain. Gel stain will not drip, so it’s great for using with outdoor furniture that has slats. Using a paint brush, apply gel stain first to the edges of the wood which you have just sanded. Work your way inward.

12) Use the applicator pad that comes with the gel stain, work the stain into the grain. 13) When the stain dries, take a look! You won’t recognize your old outdoor furniture. Or maybe you will. “This looks just the way it did when I first brought it home,” you’re apt to think. Even better, your newly attractive wooden outdoor furniture will now remain bright and beautiful year after year.