Remember what our backyard looked we first moved it? Ya, I didn’t really remember either. I still can’t figure out what they were thinking with this landscaping. Seriously, there was no back yard. Maybe that’s it – they didn’t like to mow the lawn…?
It’s come a longggg way but still seems to have a long ways to go. Slow & steady. Patience is in my development plan.
Super lucky for us, my dad came out to rebuild our deck a couple of weekends ago. Pete & I had spent the weekends leading up to his visit ripping up the old deck. The shape of the deck was not very user-friendly. We didn’t seem to have enough space to have a table or even chairs. Not sure what the design logic was. And Pete won the job of removing the dead, rotting skunk that was under the part of the deck we didn’t replace. The smell alone was making me sick, he said he almost vomited when disposing of the vermin (don’t have a picture, I actually had to leave the house when this operation was underway).
Dad arrived on Friday night. We gave him Friday night off (well kinda, he had to review my project plans & figure out what additional supplies would be needed) but got straight to work on Saturday morning. Turns out whoever build the original deck must have lost their level & tape measure. We couldn’t figure out their logic, pretty much there wasn’t any which made things a little interesting. Thankfully, Dad was able to go with it.
After a few trips to the lumberyard & hardware store, we were able to get started (Dad spent about 5 minutes trying to use our Skill Saw before realizing that it wasn’t going to cut it for the job – no pun intended – lucky me, he got me a new one for my birthday!!). It took us most of the morning to “reshape” the deck foundation. I use the term “we” loosely, as Pete & I were strictly following directions. 
After lunch, we started adding boards. Dad & I had a pretty good system going, he was measuring & cutting & I was doing the drilling (Pete had the afternoon off). The deck started to feel more “real” as more boards are added. By the end of the day we had the majority of the boards down. I was pretty impressed with our progress.
Day One: Before & After
Sunday morning Dad was up at the crack of dawn designing the deck railing. By the time we got up, he had the whole thing sketched out. It was too cold to start working so we went out to get the railing supplies. When we got back it had warmed up a hair & we were able to finish getting the boards down. Already looking good!!
Next we started putting up the railing. I was getting more excited as each section was complete. By the time we took a lunch break, we were almost done with the railing. Looking amazing!
When we were done with the railing, we had a couple of boards left, so Dad got fancy, split the boards & added a second board to the bottom of the railing – giving it a much more finished look. You can’t tell in the picture but I promise it looks good.
Can you believe how good this looks?! We are so incredibly happy with how it came out (so are our neighbors!). Thanks Dad for all the work!!!
You can kind of see some of the landscaping work Pete did in this picture. He dug several HUGE rocks out of the yard & planted some grass. You can see that he’s pond is no longer but I’m pretty confident that we will get much more use out of the deck than we ever got out of the pond.
Once the lattice is up & we have patio furiture, well be good to go! Maybe this weekend!
I spent Saturday working outside – planting grass (note the patches of hay in the pictures), flowers, seeds, mulching & a little woodworking & painting & some sewing. I found the little bistro set (pictured above) at Salvation Army, the whole set was $11 – all I had to do was recover the cushions, not bad! Oh ya, I also refinished the top of the little table & stained it with some stain we had in the garage.
Laughing, Living, and Loving with London 