17 November 2017
Make your own Comfy Lounger
DIY lounger for those Warm Summer Days
Spring is in the air and it’s time to start dreaming about lazy afternoons spent lounging in the garden or around the pool. Learn how to make your own lounger for that reason.
If you can get your hands on a couple of pallets, a bit of sanding and sawing will allow you to make this lounger or one very similar to it. Alternatively, you can use treated SA pine – 22x69mm. It’s available in lengths of 1.8m. We left the lounger unsealed as it is treated timber.
There are no complicated joins – we simply used offcuts left over from cutting the seat slats as fish plates (a fish plate is a metal or wooden plate bolted or screwed to the sides of two abutting beams) using ample screws on each to ensure the joins are secure.
Materials:
- Treated SA pine 22 x 69 x 1.8m – 11 lengths;
- One bag of 8 gauge 40mm stainless steel chipboard screws.
- Finish of your choice.
*Adapt the materials and possibly the dimensions accordingly if you decide to make the lounger out of pallets – see the illustration showing the dimensions for guidance.
Project Guide:
TIME: 2-3 days
COST: R100
Skill: 2
Assistant: No
Tools required:
- Jigsaw
- Table Saw or Mitre Saw
- Drill/Driver
- Sander
- Sandpaper
Method:
- Measure the angles that you will require. We angled the backrest at 20° to the seat, the footrest at 35° to the latter and the neck rest at 20° to the backrest. If you wish you can adjust the angles as desired, but begin with smaller angles and make them more acute, rather that making them too acute and then having to discard the timber.
- Cut the mitred ends to the required angles. Note that the dimensions on the illustration are for the longest edges.
- Once you have cut the four lengths that make up the frame, lay them out so that you can get a better idea of the angles and if necessary, adjust them.
- Use the first side of the frame as a template for the second – they need to be absolutely identical if the final result is to be stable and look good. At this stage, cut off the number of slats you will need – each is 500mm long and square cut we ended up with 20 of them.
- We have taken to angling the slat where the seat meets the back rest at an angle, as shown, to give a little more support.
- Note the fishplate one of the leftovers from cutting the slats – which are all square-cut at 90°.
- Drill pilot holes for the securing screws.
- Secure the fish plate in position – feel free to go wild with the screws.
- We used an offcut to space the slats at 22mm – it’s a simple and quick way to ensure even spacing.
- Check that the slats are attached at 90° to the frame.
- The slats during the attachment phase. Note the gap between the seat back slats and neck rest slats. We cured that by removing the neck rest part of the frame and extended each piece to 310mm long – to allow for three slats on the neck rest. This is the beauty of using screws only to assemble this lounger… you can easily take bits apart and change the design.
- We cut the legs and braces from timber left over from frame and slats (see the illustration for the dimensions, and attached them as shown here. You can make the frame members supporting the seat 135mm longer (see the red dotted outline in the illustration) so that the rear leg could have been attached directly to it, making for a very strong and stable join. We added a brace to do the same job.
- A view of the fish plate securing the join where your knees rest.
- A view of the rear leg arrangement showing the brace.
- The fish plate attaching the neck rest to the back rest.
- The Finished Product
- The Dimensions
Now it’s time to relax.
These materials are available at Selected Mica Stores. To find out which is your closest Mica and whether or not they stock the items required, please go to www.mica.co.za, find your store and call them. If your local Mica does not stock exactly what you need they will be able to order it for you or suggest an alternative product or a reputable source.