Need a cheap and simple way to clean plastic patio chairs? It doesn’t get much simpler than vinegar!
Here’s something I haven’t talked much about! Zach and I bought a house at the end of January. Since then, our life has been a flurry of furniture DIYs, a couple minor water-related disasters, and LOTS of cleaning.
More to come on all of that.
But for now, let’s do a simple project. The previous owners left some old patio chairs. Just generic, plastic chairs that they sell at every big name grocery and hardware store.
There’s a hill in our backyard and those chairs had been placed on top of the hill. So one day, Zach climbed up there and tossed the chairs down to me.
The first warm day we had, I scrubbed them as best I could and that worked for a while. It’s amazing the difference cleaning made.
How to Clean Plastic Patio Chairs
You’ll need:
- white vinegar
- a brush
- water, for rinsing
A lot of tutorials I read said to use baking soda. Uh. I guess? You only need it if you don’t like the scent of vinegar. And NO, mixing it with vinegar won’t do anything. I don’t know why the blogger-verse can’t seem to understand that. Did you take basic chemistry in middle school? Good, then you already know mixing vinegar and baking soda creates a chemical reaction that results in water. You’re cleaning with water. Good job. I’ve had people argue with me on this point, saying, “Well it really works! My kitchen looks great!” Just because it looks clean, that doesn’t mean it IS clean. This is basic science, guys.
Step 01: You can either spray the furniture with vinegar and then scrub or you can put the vinegar in a bucket. I chose a bucket. I dipped my brush in it and scrubbed. The one on the left is the clean one. The one on the right is what they BOTH looked like before cleaning.
Step 02: Using a hose, a bucket of water, or a watering can, rinse the dirt and vinegar from the chairs.
Isn’t the difference amazing? I couldn’t believe how much better they looked. They were both incredibly faded from the sun, though, so I also decided to paint them.
Here you can see the notorious hill. 😛 We’ve been SLOWLY clearing it out, because there’s actually more yard back there. So we want to build some steps and raised flower beds going up the sides of said steps. It’s a grueling task, but I’m enjoying the work. My HOPE is to get it all cleared out before my father-in-law comes to visit, because he was very excited to help us build the stairs. I hate to put him to work knowing he took time off and drove 10+ hours to get here…but I also know we’ll need the help.
My patio was also pretty filthy. It has since been cleaned and it looks amazing (when I take the time to sweep all of the pollen off of it). I’ll have pictures of that later, as well.
Anyway, on Monday, you’ll get to see what the chairs look like painted! I’d post them today but this is getting long enough. 🙂
How do you keep your patio furniture cleaned? Let me know in the comments! I could use some tips. 😛
How to Paint Plastic Patio Chairs
