Some of you who have been around for a while might remember how we had to tear down our deck last summer. The city wanted us to either build a new deck, or remove the old deck and board up the door due to the wood being rotted, and the stairs and sidewalls not being up to code. We knew when we signed the mortgage that the city was requiring this of us – so it’s not like it was any big surprise.
Either way, the end of the summer came, and we had to tear the deck down. I was sad because I love to grill out on the deck, and the kids loved being able to use the deck as their outdoor oasis. I had the mini swimming pool set up on the deck, and we had it all blocked off so Ethan wouldn’t fall down the stairs (because last summer he was still just a baby!). I really missed it when it was gone, and so did the kids.
Then around the beginning of the year we had finally had enough money saved up to call the contractors to come build the deck – and given the amazing weather we were having, we figured it would be a great time to get the work done!
Ultimately we wanted to use the pvc decking so that we would never have to deal with a rotted deck again – but it just wasn’t in the cards for us financially. We could have waited through to the end of the summer and probably gotten it, but I wanted a deck for the summer months for sure.
So rather we went with a treated wood. I’m really not that thrilled with it overall, and *almost* wish we would have waited… but really, I love being just a staircase away from our back yard – and so do the kids. And the treated color will go away soon. maybe we’ll paint it or stain it next year.
I’ve got the grill out on the deck now, and our Step2 Tropical Island Resort Water Table out on the deck for the kids to play with.
Now you know what we need?! A finished FENCE!
So this week I’ve been calling contractor after contractor – trying to find someone to block my kids into the back yard! Ethan goes down the stairs on the new deck and BOLTS for the front yard and he does not like to listen – rather, he likes to run away from me when I’m calling after and chasing him. It’s a game!
I’m terrified of having a squashed child!
So meanwhile, we’ve been looking into prices for pvc fencing – and since we really just have 15 feet on one side of the house and 28 feet of fencing needed on the other side – it’s not terribly out of budget. We’re considering it because I don’t want to have to continue the maintenance.
They can’t build a fence fast enough!!!
So, Now you’ve seen several of the projects that we’ve been working on this year! considering that our main goal is not to have any debt, I’d say we’re doing pretty good 
We’ve got the floor in the house, but not installed yet (The old floor under the vinyl is super stuck); we’ve got the deck; the new garage door; the garden; the fence; and a whole slew of other indoor projects. I feel like I’m missing some!
Anyway – I’ll be talking about them all a bit more individually and in detail soon 
Heather from OurKidsMom.com and I are hosting a Spring Home Makeover event next month – and we’ll be reviewing several things to make the projects in your house stand out – and have several really neat giveaways to match them!
Love the deck! Good luck with the fence issues!
Thanks 🙂 We’ve had 4 people out now, and they’re all much more expensive than I thought!!
yikes….
Looks great! Fences are ridiculous! Good luck!
The decks looks fantastic!!! We put in our fence last year. It isn’t really to hard and you can save a lot of money if you do it yourselves. Hopefully you can get something figured out
Yeah – as much as we would like to do it ourselves – it’s really one of those things that would just get put-off until it was worthless… I just want it done asap so we can play outside on these nice days and I don’t have to be hovering over my little man! 😀
I think the deck looks great. I like how open it feels. I would go with a stain as opposed to a paint. The stain lasts longer {at least that has been my experience}.
There’s nothing like a little home improvement to keep you busy and financially strapped.. but the outcome is so worth it. Looking forward to seeing finished pictures
I think that deck looks great. Composite decking is very expensive, almost 3x as much as pressure treated. We just built a deck on our house as well and like you would have loved to do it on composite board but that was not happening unless we hit the lottery. It turned out nice but after winter I noticed already some of the wood is bowing 🙁
My deck is in the process of being built. The porch had to go the cost was about the same (if we went with pretreated lumber) as rebuilding the porch. I hope it turns out as nice as yours did! You definitely need a fence with the age of your children. My daughter can’t take her eyes off hers for a minute as her road is 55mph and like yours once in awhile they run for the front.
Gladys P
Wow, you are busy!
When we redid our kitchen, we went through the same tedious work with the removal of the linoleum, it is no fun.