Well it's done! Finished! Completed! The deck is done!....at least for now. We've got the stain on and there is nothing more to do to it until next year. I am so relieved I can't express it!Now don't laugh at the pictures...I didn't miss any spots by accident. Some of the old boards had to be replaced so they also have to be allowed to breath for awhile and can't be stained right now. We will stain them next year and probably give the rest of the deck (at least the floor boards) another coat at that time too. I know it looks a little strange at the moment but try to think of it as an unusual decorating pattern. Everyone that comes over is being told we think it's a cool pattern and don't they think it looks cool. You should see the look on their faces! Most of them think I'm a little nuts sometimes anyway and they almost believe it. ha ha
While it was drying Justin put the garbage bin in front of the steps. I didn't think that was good enough so I put a sign up that said don't step on my wet deck. We gave it two days to dry and used the front door for all our coming and going. We've never used the front door much and I didn't even know if I had a key for it. As it turns out the key for the back door also fits the front door. Convenient!
The pups thought it was a real treat to go out the front door. They are almost never in the front yard because of the street traffic and the yard is not fenced in so it's not safe for them. The back yard is only partly fenced too but it's much safer if either of them should get loose.
Now that the deck is behind us and we know how much work is involved....we're still thinking about stripping and painting the fence next year. I've been wanting to extend the fence all the way to the end of my property but I have some investigating to do first. It seems like the most popular choice is to go with something made of plastic instead of wood. I'm told the plastic basically lasts forever and doesn't require anything...and the wood will eventually rot and of course will periodically require stripping and painting. I'd like the least amount of work of course but I absolutely HATE plastic in most of it's forms. I'm a tree-hugger and I'm big on always trying to do the environmentally friendly thing...but in this instance it's going to be a really tough choice. And of course money is always an issue too. So that will probably be a winter project..along with deciding what to plant in the garden next year too.
