Doin' The Deck...It's Done!

This post has been a long time coming.  If only because we spent so much time, sandpaper, paint, sweat and tears on our deck.  Not actual tears.  Just the kind that you shed when you look back at the cost of the fixes and lipstick you were putting on a pig.  In our case, it was a rotting pig.

Well, that rotting pig is gone and there's a pretty fancy one in it's place.

Before: Circa 2006

After: 8 Years Later

Yeah, I can't believe I live here.

I shouldn't be that shocked - it's not that we didn't have a plan.  It's just how incredible the plan came to life.  The execution is flawless!

Especially when you consider where we started.  Which was here.

Well, not really.  Before here, back in 2003, there was no railing at the end of the deck and the high railing on the right wasn't there (we're a key lot, so we have 6 neighbors in our backyard, 4 of them to the right).  We added both in 2006 when Jake was born, along with a gate attached to that far railing that fell apart.  We did all this knowing the deck itself was rotting.

Then we painted it last summer for the VERY LAST TIME, knowing it was done, the rot was too much.  Then we decided to renovate the house.

Adios Rotting Pig

The slider dictated the location and size of the deck.  Fixing the old one wasn't worth it because it had rot so completely underneath...oh and look.  No footings.

Supervising

We spoke to our neighbor about replacing our shared fence.  Which he agreed was a good idea since it was literally being held together by the overgrown vine that was taking over the garden.  We decided to bite the bullet and replace our entire fence because all three sides were like that - falling down.

Footings

The old fence didn't have proper footings, so we made sure to put them in.

Delivery

I did a ton of research and ended up using MicroPro Sienna, which you can find at Lowe's here in Toronto.  It's a treated wood, with a color that looks more like cedar without any staining required.  Eventually it will turn a warm tan color and then finally grey.  All of which we are happier with than the regular pressure treated "green" wood, and the cost and upkeep of cedar.

The guys went to town tearing out that jungle.

The Wall

When our neighbor's deck was complete (yes, he jumped in on a deal with our guys to replace his rotting deck, too), the wall went up.  Before you gasp, this is what we're blocking.

Neighbor's Shed

Our neighbor was totally ok with the height.  And happy that we put that wall up in general.  See, our old shed used to butt up against his shed.  But once ours came down, it exposed some bad aluminum siding on the back of his shed.  It wasn't in his interest to make it prettier since he can't see that side anyway.  So instead, we built the wall to block the siding and tied in with the height of the cedar planks on the exterior of his house.  Win-Win.

Then they got busy on our fence.  

We went with horizonal slats that are positioned about 1/2 inch apart, just to let some sunlight through.  Then, for a little detail, and because the fence is the highest where our neighbor's barbecue sits on his deck, we added thin cuts for extra privacy.  Now there isn't any awkward eye contact that has to be made without needing to peer over the fence.

And then this happened.

Road Trip

We left for our month long summer vacation to Wisconsin.  I left the deck mid-construction!  But my better half went back home for work and told me it was in good hands.  Really good hands.

Because then I came home to this.

Ok, ok, I staged that.  It didn't look like that after we drove 10 hours home from my brother's house.  But really, that's how it looks now.  Those CB outlet pillows and all!

We decided on a sectional for maximum seating.  And this one from CB2 was perfect because of the 2 level built in ledge at the back for plates or drinks or books.  The frame is made out of eucalyptus wood (sustainable & eco-friendly) and should weather the winter without problem.  It's a modular sectional, so we'll most likely stack them on our porch and tarp it to ease the snow to wood contact.

I love the view from our kitchen now.  Such a difference.

Before

After

Oh that pergola!  The original reason for being was to provide a bit of shade from the afternoon sun.  We had a retractable awning since we moved in.  But having lived with it, we knew how it became a complete sun block.  So the kitchen was either blasted with sun or in a dark shadow.  This was an attempt at providing at least a bit of shade without losing sunlight completely.  So far it works well.

Pergola

We had the pergola match the height of the exterior brick on top of the transom.  So you can see the top of the pergola from inside.

So where's our storage now that we removed the old lean-to shed on the left and decked to the fence?

Table

This is the beauty of being able to have a professional 3rd party think things through for you.  This is a table with serving top (it will be a stainless steel counter - still in production) on one side...

Shed

And a storage area on the other side.  It's hard to call it a shed anymore because it's less than 5 feet tall and not very wide.  But it holds everything our tiny little postage stamp of a yard requires.  The biggest item being a push mower - ha!

So there you have it.  The "4th room" on our main floor, which we love.

All Black

I should mention, we decided to paint the exterior of the 2nd floor windows black.  The white up there and black down there wasn't working.  And we also moved the eavestrough to the side of the house where it empties onto a concrete walkway that was poured to carry water away from the house and out to the street (did that back in the basement reno days).

Yes, there is still garbage in our torn up backyard.  And no, it doesn't always look like this.

For Real

That's more like it.  Except, add a blue tarp over that uncovered chair.  When we got the sectional pieces delivered, we changed our minds on the configuration, so we exchanged a couple pieces...only to find out they were out of stock on the corner cover.

Guess who needs to take a sewing lesson or two...before winter comes!!??

Back To Life

So we're home in Toronto.  Home in our new old house.  Back to our regularly scheduled programming. 

It feels great.

Especially when the rain subsides and we can do this at night.

The deck is done.  The furniture is not.  Nor is the garden.  I can deal with the bad garden, but the furniture has got to be in place before I can show it.  It's coming, really soon, I promise.  Totally worth the wait...

This felt great, too.

Not just the fact that they got together for a picture, but what came after that picture.  Back to school.

1st Grader

Henry is a trooper.  He takes whatever you throw at him and he goes with it.  Like the fact that he was starting full days at school and didn't even know who his teacher was.  (It was an open position)  We met her that morning and she was lovely.  He walked into school like he owned the place.

2nd Grader

Jake is the tough guy teddy bear.  He won't look scared or act worried.  But he'll feel it.  And he was feeling it.  Until he found his friends...then he was ok to go in. 

And I had a whole day with George. 
(I must say, #3 is easier to handle when #1 & #2 are around.  Built in playmates are no joke)

Lastly, this felt pretty great, too.

Bunk Bed!

I've had my eye on this Ikea bunk bed for over a year.  My parents bought one for their house when we descend upon them.  It's sturdy, hard to damage and inexpensive.  Nothing says "made for boys" like this sucker.

We renovate our house.  I plan for the bunk bed.  Renovation done.  I do an Ikea run to buy mattresses and the bunk bed...and it's "oversold".  That's what the price tag says.  Oversold.  What!?

I find out that's code for discontinued.  DISCONTINUED????  No.  Just no.

We leave with two mattresses and no bunk bed.  I scour the Ikeas in Toronto.  Gone.  Sad.

Spend a month in the US.

Come back, mattresses still on the floor, scour Kijiji & Craigslist.  10 days later, it's in my house.  Phew.

Ikea, I still love you, but not for this little adventure.
Craigslist, you are great. :)

At Home And Away

We're still away. 

This vacation feels awfully long for the husband who's back home in a quiet house.  But he's getting work done.

Before

This is the pre-me leather club chair.  I caveat it with "pre-me" because anything we own that's before our relationship started, we have deemed expendable.  If it breaks, nobody gets upset.  If we sell it, nobody feels hurt.  If our kids destroy it, we might not try to save it.  But if we do, we don't totally care if it doesn't work. 

Except this leather club chair is nice.  Buttery nice.  So we didn't pitch it during the reno.  Instead, we decided to actually try to save it.  Meaning, I left a bottle of leather cleaner under the kitchen sink and sent an email to the hubby last week telling him where it was if he gets bored.  And look what happened.

After

EEK!  Buttery. 

I know, it's not perfect.  But it will do.  It will do just fine.  I've been told, if you look really hard, you can still see the outline of a stick person and an "H" on the seat.  I still wonder if it was Jake, Henry or George who did that.

Speaking of seats, our modular outdoor furniture came.  We decided to tweak it slightly based on the deck size and layout.  Objects look larger when they show up on your deck.  But even though I haven't seen the furniture (or deck for that matter) in person, I found the perfect pillows.

Love

I found these in the window of a store.  I drive past this store to get to SuperTarget where my brother lives.  It takes all my effort not to turn into the parking lot of this store every time I go to SuperTarget.  Which is every day.  That's because the store is this:

I'll only be a minute

I limited myself to the outdoor pillows I saw in the window.  Husband, you should be proud.  I could spend the day in this store and justify all items purchased.  Easily.

Lastly, I need to make up for the lack of kids appearing here over the last few months. 

We had fun going fishing.

Henry watching his bobber

This kid caught a bullhead and a turtle last time we went fishing.

George reeling in his bobber

This kid was in an infant seat strapped to a stroller.

Jake caught a Bluegill!

And since he caught NOTHING last time, he was due.  It was the smallest bluegill I've ever seen, but it was a catch. 

Looks bigger than it is

And release.  We'll take it.

We also had too much fun in the pool.

Uh-Oh

So much fun, we got a split chin and ended up in the hospital.  

Brave

Getting six stitches at the hospital his cousins were born in was not his idea of fun.  But he was brave and his mother didn't pass out.  That's a win-win.

Stay tuned for the second half of our vacation...I can't promise stitches are as bad as it gets.

Make Way For A Slider

Ok, before I get to the slider, here's what I saw today when I opened my front door.

Three things you can see here:
1.  foreground: basement ceiling/main floor joists
2.  middle: floor leveling in process - new lumber attached to old bowed joists
3.  background: plywood over leveled joists - not nailed down, only temporary

We get to trash that new insulation we just put into the basement ceiling...oh well. 

Where was I?  The slider.

We decided to put an 8 foot slider into the back wall of our house with a transom above.  Everything about it makes sense.  Backyard access, maximum light and...who doesn't love a gorgeous slider like this:

This is the exterior, ours will be black.  I fell in love with the handle.

Why do so many sliders have less-than-attractive handles?  I'm gonna be looking at it all day every day.  It's gotta look nice.  And feel nice. 

Trust me, this one does.

And here's where it's going. 

Summer 2012

According to the plan, it will be positioned from the right of the door to the left of the window and above that awning. 

So while we were finishing our Easter holiday in WI, this happened.

Saturday Morning

Saturday Afternoon

Yes, these pictures from our contractor had me squealing with joy.  Look at that hole!  Imagine the light!!

Here's how it looks now.  Animal proofed, waiting for installation. 

Oh yeah, about that deck.

We were waffling on replacing the deck, mainly because it's in such poor shape.  I think we just made up our minds....

Deck Is Done

It was actually done early last week. 

But first we had to wait for the paint to cure before replacing the BBQ and furniture.  Then it rained on and off here and there. 

Neither is conducive to taking "after" pictures. 

So here's my new view for the past week:

Before

After

It's amazing what paint can do.  I'm surprised every time. 

Steve and I painted our deck these colors in 2007.  But it was so.  Much.  Work.  And that was with one kid.  With three, it would be close to impossible to a) keep them away from the work area  b) get the job done if only one person worked on painting at a time  c) who wants to work like a dog if we asked family to take our kids for a couple days (at least not THIS kind of work).

So instead, we hired College Pro.  Two guys, two days plus a morning of touch ups.  They did a good enough job for how much we care about this deck. 

Scraped & Sanded

 

Half of the work was prepping the site.  Patching & sanding the railing, scraping & sanding the deck floor. 

Then came the priming.

Primed

And this is the point when I had my a-ha idea of painting the shed white like the railing instead of my kitchen cabinet grey color. 

A-HA

It ended up turning out quite nicely.  My husband has said on a number of occasions that was a great idea.  Score.

After

Here's the view from the backyard looking at the house.

Before

Primed

After

In these pictures, it almost looks like the before shots just have maple keys scattered all over the deck floor.  Ah, no.  I swept those million up.  That is actually multiple layers of paint peeling off and random brown, mint green and bare wood colors showing through. 

Major Peelage

At least now, there's no peeling.

Much Better

That's lookin' pretty orange.  It's not quite that shocking in real life. 

What might be shocking is the shed.  In a good way.

Before

After

Also shocking is that Virginia Creeper vine.  I fight with it often to keep it from growing up the shed on it's way to our brick wall.  Great for greening a fence.  Bad for people who don't tame it.

So, with the BBQ reattached, the furniture back up and the flowers in place, we are liking the view. 

Summer-Ready

We spend time out here dreaming of our next deck...which will probably be a short-term goal instead of long-term... 

Failing Support

If you touch that concrete, the whole chunk falls off in your hand. 

Rotting Wood

If you touch this 2 x 6, it's spongey.  And it turns into mushy dusty slivers. 

Hence, our decision to not spend any more money on this deck.  She's done.  She's still alive and kicking - safely - nothing's falling down or off or through the floor.  But we've got dreams of a shed-less wider & shorter deck with a corner sectional and low table for optimal relaxation. 

Sorry, Packer picnic table.  I may have to find a new fan family for you...