New Deck

Well we have lived in our house for almost 6 years now and we are starting to fix some of our big ticket issues that have been on our list forever. We started with the foundation problems which we fixed earlier this year. The much more exciting project that just got completed is our new back deck!

These first few picture are the befores, This deck served us well but the railing was too short, it was smaller than we wanted and it was basically starting to rot and fall apart. We definitely didn't want it collapsing on us so we decided it was time to replace it!

One of the best things about this was that it was a trial run for a contractor that we were considering for rebuilding our front windows (hopefully this will be happening soon!). I'm happy to say we were really pleased with this company's work and will definitely be using them again. http://www.barefootdecks.net/ if anyone is looking for a good contractor. 

Here is an in progress shot of them tearing down the deck. They got slowed down by the rain so it took longer than expected but once they got going it was pretty quick. As they pulled the deck apart we could see just how rotten the wood was, good thing we had it replaced!

And here is the finished deck, hooray!

We went with mahogany for the decking and railing tops. It was only a little more expensive and should hold up much better than the cedar. The rest of the railing is black aluminum and treated wood.

 I love the way the did the corners of the railings.

The new deck is much bigger and wraps around the side of the house instead of having stairs down to the backyard. It feels so big! I think it is probably almost twice the size of the original deck.

Here are the stais on the side of the house.

They also put little solar lights by the stairs which I thought was cool.

Even the cats approve!

July Birthday Extravaganza!

Since Eric and I have birthdays that are 4 days apart we always get to have a big, long drawn out birthday week. It's awesome! This we we got some amazing gifts from my parents to spruce up our back deck. It was much needed and very much appreciated! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Snazzy new back deck stuff!

For Eric we got a gorgeous new gas grill. We had a charcoal grill before which was great except that it took forever to get going making grilling a huge production. The result was that we never used it. This grill is so easy, we can just turn it on and we're good to go! We made our first meal on it the other night which turned out amazing but I'll blog about that later.

For me we got an amazing new patio set from World Market. We moved all our old, junky metal stuff off and cleaned things up a bit and it looks so much more organized and pleasant! I love the natural wood of the tables and chairs and they are much more sturdy than what we had before. Willow likes them too :-)

I also got some cute citronella candles to help keep the bugs away :-)

What birthday would be complete without birthday waffles and some lovely flowers? I seriously had one of the best birthdays ever, everyone went out of their way to make my day special and amazing :-)

One more shot of Willow enjoying the new patio furniture,  just because she's cute. 

We can't wait to entertain on our new and improved back deck! it is seriously so lovely now! If only it would get a little less buggy and hot it would be perfect :-)