Extreme Makeover - Deck Addition

Over Memorial Day weekend, we were finally home for the first weekend in more than a month.  With all of the weddings and events this spring, we've been going non-stop.  But finally, we had some time to get some overdo chores done around the house.  First, we stained the deck.  This was a bit of a miserable project because of both the heat and the number of edges and corners on our privacy walls.  Our awesome neighbor let us borrow this rockin' tool that helped tremendously with the spindles - it was a bit messy for the user but made painting each one of those little buggers so much easier.  It's like kitchen tongs, with sponges on each side that you dip in the stain and just slide it down the spindle.  Amazing. 

I wish I would have taken before shots of the deck...it was so bad.  It looks like brand new wood now with just a coat of stain!  While waiting for the deck to dry, we went to Home Depot to get some more greenery and flowers.  Our herb garden is growing so well - everything is really doing great - but we wanted some other plants and flowers to make the space a little more homey feeling.

We put lavender in the middle of these beautiful pink annuals.  And I'll give credit where credit is due - husband very proudly picked these out and they do look great.  The pink is going to be gorgeous with the color of the pot when the flowers grow out a little.  It's been a couple of weeks and they're really growing beautifully.


Remember when I bought this stand back in February?



We did a few other little additions to the deck.  We changed the latch on the door, and love it now - it used to be one of those tiny, find in public restroom, slide locks that hardly would reach and was all rusted.  Now we have a fancy black one that we love - it is great when something so small makes such a difference.  We have been talking about putting a hose back there as well - the spigot is on the wall just beyond the privacy wall on the left, where our ac unit is.  We got this fancy curly one that our neighbors also have - they love it and when we saw it on the shelves, we figured why not!  We mounted it just on the other side of where the stairs are, and it sure makes watering all of our new plants (and washing the dog) easier!

We did some rearranging too.  The table was long ways right smack in the middle.  It was really un-exciting and uninviting.  So we pushed it over to the side of the deck, so you can better overlook the grassy common area.  We moved the 2 black chairs and small table to the corner near the house - you can kind of see them in this photo.  Also, bringing out our enormous red umbrella helped too.  The new layout gives so much more space to walk around, and the 2 black chairs are just saying 'drink your coffee right here!'

We've already sat out on the deck a couple of times, and really are enjoying the new layout and beautiful plants around.  It's kind of hard to see in the above photo, but we also hung all of the herb boxes over the edge.  It feels like a real, official outdoor living space!  And just in time for the warm summer nights full of fancy drinks, grilling, rose wines and friends.