Welcome to another Monday! I hope you had a great weekend! Ours wasn’t half bad, not quite as busy as it has been lately, so we were able to spend a little more time at home and tackle some projects. A huge project on our list for spring is maintenance on our two story deck behind our house. The thing is big people! On Saturday my husband spent the day power washing it. And let me tell you, it took every bit of the Saturday. Today I am going to show you some before and after shots of the process. Next on our list is to apply water sealer, but first I am going to do a paint stencil to the floor of the top level, before he seals it. I did an insipiration post on stenciled wood floors earlier in April. So I have lots of pictures to show you, and along the way I will explain the process a little.
This is an after picture of the top level. It is the best shot I got so I thought I would start with this photo! My ultimate goal is to have a small café table and two chairs out here on this top level. I am hoping to find a cheap one at a yard sale this summer and use it out here. Update: I have painted this deck area since this post came out. Click here to see the before and after, it is amazing!
This is a close up shot of the top level of the deck before power washing.
This is a shot of LC right when he was getting started. Nice shorts! We were lucky enough that our neighbor is a professional painter, and he also cleans decks, so he had all of the equipment we needed, and he loaned it all to us! A super nice power washer that had a super long hose, which we needed because it had to stretch all the way from the hose spout in the front of the house- inside the garage- to behind the house- top level of the deck! That is a long way!
These are a couple of before shots of the railing going down from the top level. You can see that there is a gate attached. This deck is VERY high, so I am so glad there is a gate here. You can also see how grimy this railing is.
This is an after shot of that same railing. Amazing! Before LC power washed, he sprayed everything down with a deck cleaner. I believe it was a Clorox brand. We also borrowed the sprayer we used to do this job from our neighbor.
This is a part of the banister on the top deck.
This is the exact same rail after power washing.
Top of stairs before.
Top of stairs after.
Before of the top landing.
After of the top landing.
Before of Stairs.
After of the same stair, plus you can see the bottom landing. Look how clean it is!
Before of the bottom story. You can see that LC was above already power washing. I didn’t realize he was starting so soon, so I was scrambling to get a few before shots without getting me and my camera soaked!
Another before shot.
And a couple after shots of the bottom level. Mr. 5 Yr. old and my little cousin are playing in these pictures. We keep his sand box on the bottom level of the deck. See the pond? It is one of our favorite parts of living here!
After. There are 5 chairs and an umbrella that go with this table, but they are currently in our crawl space under the house. We will get them out after we do the water sealer. I spray painted all of the table and chairs last summer.
Do you see something that needs replaced in this picture? Our grill cover did not fare very well over the winter.
After. See those two green chairs in the background? They are comfortable folding chairs, and I plan to give them a little spray paint makeover soon as well. These stairs in the background lead to the top level.
I so wish I had a before shot of these stairs that lead down to the yard. They were black with filth. See that dish? It belonged to the previous owner’s. LC is planning to take it off and get rid of it before we treat the deck.
This is a good shot to show you about how large this top tier of the deck is. This is right off of our kitchen. We have other plans to put flowers in containers out here too. I went to Kohl’s Saturday while LC was working on the deck, and I purchased these two cushions for the chairs. I like them because they are completely neutral. They were on sale for 1/2 off! By coincidence, we also purchased the two chairs and the stacking table at Kohl’s a couple of summers ago. I love the chairs. They are that all weather type of wicker and have held up wonderfully. They are comfy too! I actually brought them into the house and had them in my dining room/office over the winter.
This is a close up of the new cushions I bought.
Here are a couple of before shots of the deck when we were just looking at the house and had not closed on it yet. You can see the post for the top level of the deck. I liked the furniture the previous owner’s had out here.
I also liked the café table and chairs they had on the top level, this is the type of thing I am looking for to put up here.
Here is a little collage with a couple of before and after shots just so you can see the side by sides.
This project took LC from about 9 am until 5 pm or so. And he had a little help from our neighbor as well. The results are amazing! Pictures do not do it justice! It literally looks like someone bleached the deck. It was so dirty! It looks almost like brand new now. We plan to use Thompson’s Water Sealer on it in just a clear natural wood tone. The deck is so huge that there is just no way we want to tackle trying to stain it. Like I mentioned before, I am planning a stencil treatment on the floor of the top tier. Weather permitting, I am going to do it this coming weekend, because now that we have cleaned it, LC wants to get the sealer on it as soon as possible. And the other plus is that the previous owner’s left a big huge bunch of Thompson’s water sealer here, so we don’t think we are going to have to buy any!
At our old house, we power washed the deck and then stained and sealed it every two summers, and it stayed looking like new. Now that we have this deck looking as close to new as possible, we will do the same thing. Treat it every other summer, and it should be good to go. I have plans to plant some containers with flowers for both levels. I would love to have both a table and chairs and a seating area down on the bottom level. So I am going to be hunting for some furniture that I can DIY at yard sales this summer. Wish me luck! I did a post on outdoor furniture that I loved for our deck areas here. This deck is one of our favorite features of this house. It is great during summer. It is never too sunny out there because there is a huge tree that provides shade for most of the day. The deck at our old house was so sunny with no shade, and we hardly ever went out there because of it. I go and sit on our deck and read a lot during the daytime.Enjoy your week! This is the week before our state standardized testing in WV public schools, so it is a busy week of preparation for me at work. Also, I am chaperoning a field trip to Harper’s Ferry on Thursday, so I might be doing a post about that next week! See you tomorrow for Trashtastic Tuesday!
Linking up here:
http://mariaelenasdecor.blogspot.com/
A clean deck is a great start for fresh design! I'm thinking of re-painting mine for the summer, that is, if I still have the energy for it!
I agree! Can't wait to get busy out there!
Looks awesome! I have a new weekly link party which is live now and I would love if you stop by and link up this wonderful post! Hope to see you there! http://mariaelenasdecor.blogspot.com/ Hugs, Maria
Amazing what a difference it makes!! Thanks so much for sharing on Project Inspired
Nancy
Thanks! I am planning to stencil the top floor, but right now it is raining, so the weather is messing with my plans!
It looks fantastic. I can't believe the difference and a lot easier than sanding. Thank you for the inspiration.
There is NO WAY we could sand that whole deck, OMG! Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a sweet comment!
Power washing is an important process you shouldn’t miss if you want to have a beautifully painted deck. It’s a good thing your husband had a whole day to spare just for the job. Thorough cleaning would keep dirt from getting trapped between the wood surface and the paint. Good luck! ReNew Crew Clean
One of your biggest investments is your house or business. When it comes to a house or business building it is important that we keep it neat, tidy and organized. Having it in a bad state will just give us the disadvantages that will surely annoy and bother not only you but also other people as well. There are many disadvantages of staying in a house that is dirty and messy. It will affect everyone’s health and wellness including yours.
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