Hi, My Friends,
How are you? I hope you are well.
I thought I'd catch you up on some random things and then I'll show off the deck.
My two local children came out to our new house in East Texas for my birthday. We celebrated my daughter as well because she was born the day after my birthday. We had a wonderful time.
We had some foggy windows replaced about a month ago.
This highlighted the dirtiness of all the other windows.
I've tried washing our windows before. Obviously, the outside second story windows are out of the questions but washing the windows that I can reach, left streaks so we hired it out.
They came last Monday and the windows look gorgeous.
They found a few others that were just a tad foggy. They aren't too bad so we'll get those another day.
Last fall, I stripped and power washed the deck. Bill replaced some boards which were rotting.
Bill built the deck in 2010. I wanted a gray wash. Bill went with a solid instead of a transparent or semi-transparent. I've been fighting with this for the past 12 years.
At some point I'd thought the gray had faded and worn off enough that I thought we could re-stain the deck in a brown. This time we went with semi transparent.
I wanted it to look like a naturally aged wood but I could still see gray flecks through the brown.
Intermittently, boards needed to be replaced. We have been dealing with new wood, old wood and wood with a gray flecks.
I used Citristrip to try to strip off most of the brown and the gray. It took all day!
Once a deck is power washed it needs to rest before new stain can be added. The power washing really opens up the fibers of wood. There were probably days this past winter when I could have gotten that project done but I just didn't feel like it. Deck staining is a pain in the rear so I put it off.
It is outdoor season so it was time to get this done.
I felt like it on the Monday morning that the window washers were coming. Umm, Hello? They would need to get on the deck to clean the windows. I'm so glad I remembered they were coming before I started staining.
I began staining it last Tuesday morning. As first the stain went on Mauve. I freaked out a little until I realized that I just needed to let it dry.
The color is okay. It's a little more orange than I would expect for something called Acorn Brown but I think it is fine. It matches the fence really well.
I can still see some brown. The older and dry wood took the stain differently than the new wood.
Allowing new wood to cure a bit is important before staining. We did not do that last time and the stain always looked a little weird to me.
A new back door mat seemed fitting.
We took some steps off of the side of the deck. It allowed room for a bed of irises.
I spruced up the deck pillows.
The yellow pillow was found at Dollar General.
I stitched up the black pillows with my new Janome sewing machine.
The other pillows are older with a bee theme.
My favorite spray paint was used to spruce up a couple of my old chairs. Rust-Oleum Satin in Moss Green.
This color has a 1040's vibe to me. It's perfect for the garden.
The spray paint matches the shed.
The shed color is just so pretty. It is Retreat by Sherwin Williams.
This time we used Thompson's Water Seal in the Acorn Brown Semi-transparent.
We will see how it holds up to the elements.
The baker's rack is new this year. The flower pots were on it about two days when wrens started building a nest in the pot on the second shelf. I didn't move the rack to stain the deck because there are a couple of baby birds in it. I think the mother was annoyed that I was out there working. The babies have since flown the nest. I'll leave it in the pot so that the family does not come back again to lay more eggs. It was hard to water the sweet potato vine with them in it.
I found this darling pail at an estate sale.
Instead of grabbing it right away, I had to think about it for a minute. What?
It's perfect with our 2022 color scheme.
I ran out of stain before I could get to the little middle deck.
It's never been stained so hopefully it takes the stain evenly.
We still need to strip the boardwalk and the lower deck.
There is a lot decking in this yard because it is so sloped.
A real wood deck is not a good option for a perfectionist.
(Neither is a real wood fence as you can see by the two pickets that have been replaced. Grrrr.)
I feel that the only time a deck is going to look perfect is the first time it is stained. After that it's a trick to get any replaced boards to match. To get a perfect deck, a composite material might be the way to go.
That is all for now. The water is beading right up. Hopefully, this lasts at least a year.
Summer has arrived. It is hot and the cicadas are chirping. We're setting up the stock tank pool this weekend. I can't wait.
Thanks for reading.
Katie
