Friday's We Fixed It- Deck

When we moved into our house last year the deck needed a little attention. We had a lot of settling in to do. Because winter was approaching and we opted for a quick fix of sanding some of the rougher areas and then applying a clear stain, knowing that we would have to do something else this year. Well, this year is here and we worked on the deck once more. Anyhoo, here's our semi-before picture. Matt and I have already stained the railing.

It took us three weekends to finish up this project. We pressure washed the deck, sanded the deck and then began the staining of the deck. Matt's arms were sore the first weekend from holding up the wand to pressure wash. The following weekend it was my turn. I sanded for two days and my hands were numb from the vibrations of the sander. They still go numb several weeks later if I hit it just right. Last weekend we actually got down to the business of applying the stain. As always that first splash of color frightened me a little, probably because it was so different from the bare wood look. But we think it turned out looking pretty fantastic even if we do say so ourselves! SO with no further ado....

I also added a splash of color to the window boxes Matt and I installed on the sides of the deck. I just love pansies. They have such beautiful faces.
What is even better is that there are no more splinters getting into the kids feet!!! So, with that and the cooler fall weather the kids are beginning to enjoying the deck more as well. They have even started taking their homework and books out to the deck to work on.

So that's how we spent the last month of weekends. Now onto the next project....