Susan’s Birthday Giant Adirondack Chair!

For Susan’s fiftieth birthday I wanted to get her something she would love and didn’t already have. I decided to go with a 1,000+ pound poolside chair, sometime I was sure she didn’t already have.

Over the past 30 years Susan and I have visited all fifty states together, and along the way we’ve seen an awful lot of interesting and unique roadside attractions. We’ve seen a silo painted like a gigantic can of Coca-Cola, a 20′ tall Transformer statue made from scrap automotive parts, and even the Biggest Ball of Twine in Nebraska (long story), but nothing gets Susan to slam on the brakes harder than an oversized Adirondack chair. We’ve stopped and posed at so many of them that I’ve lost count — I’ve taken pictures of her sitting in the green one in Medicine Park, a red one in Florida, and a white one near Lake El Reno, among others. I never have to remind her to smile in these pictures because she’s always grinning from ear to ear whenever we find one.

For about a year I’ve been trying to figure out how to get one of those chairs for Susan. Finding a pre-built one is impossible, and the kits for sale are exorbitant. Many of the ones I found looked pretty janky. I found one on Etsy listed for $2,895.00 (currently on sale for $1,765.95) plus $600 shipping which, to be honest, doesn’t look as sturdy or as large as the ones we’ve seen in the wild. The closest thing I found to what I wanted was at TheBestAdirondackChair.com, who sells their 8′ tall chair kit for $3,899.00 plus $400 shipping.

The more I looked at these things, the more I realized the only way I was going to get one was to build one.

I have been blessed with a wonderful circle of friends, friends who are awesome and talented and generous with their time and skills. Six months ago, I sent a few pictures of the chairs I had seen to my buddy Andy and asked, somewhat rhetorically, if he thought he could build one of these chairs. Andy could probably build a ladder to the moon with enough toothpicks and bubble gum, and was excited to take on the challenge of building a gigantic Adirondack chair. I sent him detailed pictures of the chair in El Reno to give him an idea of what I was looking for. I found plans for sale for $100, but Andy said he wouldn’t need them. He just drove over to El Reno with his phone and a tape measure and took some measurements. While the chair at El Reno is typical of the big chairs we’ve seen, Andy mentioned that he didn’t think it would last very long based on the thickness of wood used and suggested we use thicker wood… and scale the size of the chair up, while we were at it.

June was busy this year; Andy’s family went on vacation, I went on vacation, Andy went on another vacation, and before I knew it, Susan’s birthday had come and gone. I bought Susan an Apple Watch for her birthday, but didn’t give up hope on the chair. A couple of weeks ago, my schedule lined up with Andy’s and we were able to sneak away to Lowe’s to buy the lumber required for the chair. Andy had a list of what we needed, and the two of us loaded stacks of lumber onto a metal cart. A single 2″x2’x10′ piece of pressure-treated lumber weighs 55 pounds according to the Lowe’s website. Based on my calculations, we left with just over 1,200lbs of wood which we neatly stacked onto Andy’s trailer. The wood was expensive, but nowhere near the cost of those kits I found for sale. Not even close.

For the next few days I was on standby, ready to rush in and assist with anything that needed doing. A couple of days later, Andy sent me the following picture.

In a couple of days, Andy had cut all the wood, assembled the chair, and was in the process of disassembling it for transport. I was shocked at how quickly he was able to turn that stack of wood into Susan’s dream. I was also a little shocked at the size, but in a good way. If you’re going to build a giant Adirondack chair, go big or go home.

I kept the chair a secret from Susan for as long as I could — we’re talking at least six months here — but when I asked her to “pick up some paving stones at Home Depot for a gardening project,” I think she clued in that I was up to something. The day before the chair was set to be delivered, I shared Andy’s picture with her and asked where she wanted it placed. Moving a chair that weighs over half a ton isn’t the easiest thing to move around.

Last Friday, right around dusk, a pickup truck hauling a partially disassembled chair rolled into the neighborhood and into our backyard. It took myself, Andy, Susan, and Mason to get the chair off the trailer and moved into position. The back of the chair was pivoted into place and attached with screws and bolts, all according to Andy’s design.

It wasn’t until I saw the picture of me, Andy, and Andy’s son Cooper all in the chair that I really grasped just how big this thing was.

For scale I’m a little under 6′ tall and Andy’s a little over 6′. The seat is a little over 6′ wide and about 5′ deep, which makes it perfect for two (or three or four) people to sit side by side and enjoy the pool. From the ground to the top of the chair is 8’4″. That makes it taller than the 8′ ones I found for sale, but not as tall as the “World’s Largest Adirondack Chair” in Ontario which stands 12′ tall. Actually, I just discovered that one was taken down in 2022. So maybe we do own the world’s largest Adirondack chair, who knows.

We have to wait a few weeks for the pressure-treated wood to cure, but after that Susan can either paint or stain the chair. I had imagined the chair in a bright red, although who knows what color Susan will choose, or how many times it will change colors.

Susan loves the chair (and I was right, she didn’t already have one). She and her friends piled into it the other night for some fun photos, and I’ve already caught her sitting in it a few times in the morning. Now all we need is a 6’x6′ ottoman to sit in front of it!

Thanks to Andy for helping me make this kooky dream a reality. Susan loves it, and we both appreciated all his hard work.

Now if only I could figure out how to get my 12′ skeleton to sit down in the chair…