Sweet Happens

The deck was the major project on the list this year to get done.  Below is the only picture I could find of this boring landing that was here when we bought the place.  It was tiny, only 6X10 and had this weird half railing.  The worst thing was that we were standing 2.5 feet higher than the fence almost.  This encouraged the no-boundaries neighbor to chat at me no matter what I was doing out there.  Since we got a dog, he has also been ripping up and down the narrow strip of lawn leading off the deck to the backyard and wearing down all the sod..to mud..a LOT of mud.  The previous owners had put in a small garden beside that same narrow strip of lawn, which was great but I would have just preferred a bigger deck.  So last year, in my great wisdom, we ripped out the garden boards and recycled them to the neighbor across the street so she could have a raised garden in her backyard.  This also just provided more mud for the dog and kids to track in.  Fun times.  Anyways, here are a few pics of the deck reno in progress.

Ryan gets a haircut..or Hunter gets revenge for his???

Below, Ryan gets started on new stringers for the deck as well as new posts for the privacy railing.  We had to fight the weather as well as the dog who would have loved to escape if we had tore the whole thing down.  Plus, this is the only exit to the backyard so we had temporary boards everywhere for somewhere for the kids to step to get down (not to mention the uber wimpy dog who coudn't possibly jump....)

Our dog loves nothing more than to escape so Ryan was forever putting up place boards to cover gaps in the railing or under the deck.  Not the easiest way to build a deck!!

Squeeeze out the door to use the BBQ!

More posts in and more construction waste everywhere! I thought I was never going to get my backyard back.  And then the rain started...and rained and rained and rained.  So although the deck package was delivered by Totem, it just sat for a week.  I'm sure Ryan was just a little glad of the rain! I just ended up painting Blade's room.

Uber wimpy dog on his make-shift decking.

More deck pictures to come!