How to Improve the Look of Wood Patio Furniture with Olympic Stain

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Mother-daughter duo, Steph and Vicki Kostopoulos of Mother Daughter Projects show us how they touched up their weathered cedar oak patio furniture with the help of Olympic Elite Solid Stain.

After seven years of use, this outdoor cedar wood furniture was past due for a new look. The unfinished wood meant that stains and dirt could not be easily cleaned. It was water stained and had faded more in some areas than others. This furniture was the perfect candidate to try out the #1 rated Olympic Elite Solid Stain.

Let’s get started!

First Things First: Choosing a Color!

With color chart in hand, we narrowed our choices down to two colors. We found a great resource, a color visualizer on the Olympic website. With it we were able to take a look at both colors side by side to see how they looked against the existing porch carpet.

How to Improve the Look of Wood Patio Furniture with Olympic Elite Solid Stain

With the visualizer, we were able to “see” how the color would look on the wood furniture. The online representation actually turned out to be really accurate! Time to place an order at The Home Depot!

How to Improve the Look of Wood Patio Furniture with Olympic Elite Solid Stain

Besides the stain in the color, Chestnut Brown, we bought high quality paint brushes,

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5 Easy Air Conditioner Maintenance Tips

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Regular air conditioner maintenance is a must to ensure the system operates efficiently and has a long life.

Few household chores pay off more than scheduling regular air conditioner maintenance.

A well-maintained air conditioning unit runs efficiently, uses less energy and costs less to run. Best of all? A properly serviced system experiences fewer breakdowns and has a longer lifespan.

Married couple looks at their American Standard air conditioner and wonders whether it's time to maintain their system
Regularly check the condition of your A/C’s outdoor unit. Spotting problems now can prevent headaches later.

What You Should Know About Air Conditioner Maintenance

As a homeowner, you can tackle some routine air conditioner maintenance tasks, but you should leave technical assessments and repairs to properly trained, licensed professionals.

If you’re uncomfortable with performing any of the items on the list below, never hesitate to call a professional.

If you do handle some of the maintenance, always observe safety precautions, and before you perform any work on your outdoor unit, always shut down power to the unit at your electrical box.

And now, for the tips!

Man sets American Standard AccuLink thermostat
Your outdated thermostat could be costing you money. A smart thermostat could save you $200 per year on energy use.

1. Examine the Thermostat

This may be the easiest task for air conditioner

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Protecting Our Fence With Clear Waterproof Sealant

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Stains on our wooden fences can take away from the curb appeal of our beautiful yards. Instead of painting them a different color, which we’ve all thought about, check out the video and blog below to see how Suzannah Stanley was able to refresh and waterproof her wooden fence.

Why we wanted to stain or seal our fence

We had our fence replaced this spring—one of the best things we’ve done at this house! It was previously a dented, mossy, slatted chain link with mismatched cedar gate area. And it wasn’t tall enough or fully sight-obscuring once we had all the ivy and extra vegetation around it removed. We replaced it with a standard cedar fence. It’s common in this area but definitely shows age after lots of Pacific Northwest rain. We definitely wanted to stain or seal it somehow. After research, we learned it’s best to do this 6-8 weeks after installing the fence so the boards can dry out and cure.

Products and Applications

Research on products and application methods followed. The Home Depot carries #1 rated Olympic stains with both weather-ready application and long-lasting durability. We wanted a clear product to protect the fence from aging rather

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Weatherproofing Exterior Swings with Olympic Stains and Sealants

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Refreshing old wood furniture can seem like an overwhelming task, especially if it’s spent months, even years, outside slowing corroding. Check out the video and blog post below to see how Tyson Moore refreshed and weatherproofed some of his exterior furniture pieces with the help of Olympic stains and sealants.

Hello everyone! My name is Tyson Moore, and I’m excited to show you how my wife and I weatherproofed a two porch swings using Olympic products from The Home Depot!

I recently built our family a brand-new cedar porch swing. As I was preparing for weatherproofing, I looked across the yard and noticed that my neighbor’s porch swing was in rough condition. My wife and I decided that it would also be a fun project to bring our neighbor’s old swing back to life!

Gather Your Supplies

First, we headed to our local Home Depot to gather the supplies we needed. We decided to finish both swings using different  Olympic products. For our swing, we chose #1-rated Olympic Maximum Clear Waterproofing Sealer. For my neighbor’s old swing, we picked up Olympic Premium Deck Cleaner and the Olympic Elite Transparent Advanced Exterior Stain and Sealant in One in the

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DIY Patio Deck Makeover with Olympic Wood Stain

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Liven up your back patio or deck without over spending on an expensive remodel job. Check out how Sam Raimondi of DIY Huntress revamped her Grandparents’ patio deck with a few simple coats of Olympic Exterior Wood Stain.

Summertime is the perfect time to give your deck some love! I recently decided to refresh my grandparents’ weathered deck in their backyard with Olympic Exterior Stain to give them a cute and practical outdoor space to hang out on while stuck at home. This project took me a few days to complete (luckily, the weather held out) and made a huge impact in their backyard.

Here’s the before:

DIY Deck Makeover with Olympic Stain

Here’s the after:

DIY Deck Makeover with Olympic Stain

Not bad for a long weekend of work. Ready to see how I did it? Let’s get started!

Step 1

First step in any deck project is to clear the deck and inspect the boards to see if any need to be repaired or replaced.

DIY Deck Makeover with Olympic Stain

Step 2

Once the boards were inspected (I luckily didn’t have to replace any), I knocked down any loose or lifted nails using a hammer.

DIY Deck Makeover with Olympic Stain

Step 3

Next, I cleaned off the deck using a thick bristle brush.

DIY Deck Makeover with Olympic Stain

Step 4

After removing debris

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Stain Your Deck the Right Way with Olympic Stains

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There is no better place to spend the warmer months than on your back deck or patio. Timisha Porcher of Tool Box Divas transformed her neighbor’s deck into an oasis by using Olympic Stain to bring it back to its full potential. Read more for a step-by-step tutorial on staining your deck.

With more people home, we are enjoying more aspects of our home. We actually have time to sit outside and enjoy our space. My neighbor loves being outdoors and spending time on her deck. Unfortunately, her deck needed a little TLC. That’s why I’m so grateful to be able to partner with The Home Depot and Olympic Stains to assist my neighbor during these challenging times.

Some of the rails had water damage and the deck floor was discolored and faded. She and I were talking about it one day and she asked me if I could help her give new life to her deck. Well, of course I can! It’s kind of my thing, you know?

Originally, she thought she just wanted to go with a clear sheen that would seal the deck and extend its life for a few more summers. However, once we got into

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