Land of 10,000 Adirondacks

Minnesota is known for its 10,000 plus lakes, but there’s something else all over the state: adirondack chairs.  They are EVERYWHERE.  At least in our neighborhood.  Maybe they’ve always been everywhere, and we just didn’t notice since we were apartment dwellers for so long.  Most apartment balconies do not have room for anything as big as an adirondack, let alone two of them.  And two seems to be the popular amount.  We’re not sure if they are purely decorative for some people, but we live in the land of houses with adirondack chairs out front.  And we’re starting to feel a little peer pressure since we just have to plop ourselves in the yard when we want to sit in front of our house.  Which is approximately never.  But that’s about to change.

On a quick stroll through our neighborhood, you can see every variety of adirondack.  Rocking chair adirondacks.  Reclining adirondacks.  Plastic adirondacks.  Wooden adirondacks.  Adirondacks in need of a paint job.  Adirondacks with foot rests.  Yes, adirondack, adirondack, adirondack.

There are pint-sized adirondacks for the family that chills in their front yard together.  Mis-matched adirondacks.  Adirondacks with dainty tables waiting for a cold drink on a hot summer’s day.  And adirondacks that you suspect will never be used to actually sit.

And we even have a giant adirondack chair in our hood.  We have no idea what the story is on it, but it’s hard to miss as we drive by.  It would be perfect for the family that is so close they want to sit on the same adirondack.

We also can’t go to any type of home improvement store without noticing the adirondack craze.  Target has them.  Home Depot has them.  Menards has them.  Ace Hardware has them.  They range in price from $16 for the plastic ones (on sale at Target) to hundreds of dollars for fancier wooden models (like $399 for this at Room & Board).  And they come in all different colors.

It’s funny how being a homeowner is a little bit like being in grade school.  There’s a lot of subconscious peer pressure going on, especially when it comes to guys and their outdoor space. Like it’s a race to see who shovels their driveway first or mows their lawn the fastest. It’s like when you wanted your parents to buy you a starter jacket or doc martens or anything abercrombie because all the other kids in school had them.  Or whatever it was when you were younger that your parents had the sense to not let you get just because everyone else had them.

But after looking at our neighbors’ adirondacks day after day, we have been sucked in.  We broke down and purchased two of them just like the cool kids.  And because we like them and think they’d be great to relax in on a nice day.

We picked up the wooden kind that you have to assemble and finish (with either stain or paint).  The plastic ones are cute, but we weren’t sure how long they would last.  We also liked these ones when we tested them out at our local hardware store, and they were on sale for $34.99 each.  And they may still be living in their boxes, but we can picture it now.

There we’ll be sitting out in our adirondacks watching the world go by on our street…..which consists of a lot of kids on bikes, parents chasing children and people walking dogs.  Or not.  We may house them somewhere more private in our backyard.  We haven’t decided, but we’ve taken the first step.  We also picked out a paint.

We grabbed Behr Premium Plus Ultra exterior flat paint from the Home Depot in Martha Stewart’s Aegean Blue color.  Which essentially ensures that every time we use our new chairs we will be as relaxed as we would be on a Greek island staring out over the Aegean sea.  If only.  Next, we need to paint all of the pieces and assemble our latest yard additions.  Then we can move to lounging in the yard……right after we spread our truck full of dirt, plant more grass, landscape a bunch of different areas, finish our sun room and add some sort of privacy solution in the back yard.