Redoing The Deck

 

I started with an after picture.  Because it makes me so happy!  :-)  

I didn't take a good before photo of the deck.  It was last stained in a dark brown, more then half of which was peeling, and a good half the deck was green with mold and mildew - it's a fairly shaded area.

This is the "during" photo.  This is after spraying it with a deck wash, and then hours of power washing.  At this point I've just started spraying the railing

I didn't really choose the deck stain color.  We went to Lowes for me to choose it, and in the "oops" pile was a huge can of deck stain.  $30, for $150 worth of stain.  Yes, that color will work just fine..  :-)

Next is the furniture I got free along the side of the road.  

When I saw the price of replacement cushions, I knew why it was free.  You can buy new furniture cheaper then you can buy new cushions!  Thankfully, I can sew.  :-)

A close up of one of the chairs, before - 

First I stained all the wood - along with an adirondack love seat and a few tables that I'm using on the deck, using leftover stain from the last time we stained the deck.  Then I went to my favorite outdoor fabric store - Surplus City, and bought outdoor fabric - $30 for 5 yards.  5 yards was almost exactly what I needed - I used the last scrap to make a pillow for on the swing/hammock.. so there is literally not a one inch scrap of this fabric left.  Not bad for guessing how much I would need!

I'm so happy with the result.  Here's the same chair, after - 

I bought a flat of the flowers shown here, and added them to two old metal pans I had kept in the shed to use for something like this.  

On the other side of the deck I added a new hammock/swing, and to the far right  I am fixing my broken table (the glass shattered in one of our storms last year) and I got a pretty new umbrella..  I'll have more pics later.

Each morning I come out here with my coffee, open the canister of sunflower seeds I keep on a table, and sing to the peacock, peahen, and 5 peachicks.. who come running as soon as they hear me sing, knowing I'm going to toss them sunflower seeds.  It's the favorite part of my day!