patio & trees

Hey guys! We finally finished the patio this past week! Finally! And no more hair loss :)

My Dad and Leo dug new footers for the extension. It is now a 10' X 14' deck, with inset stairs. My Dad had to dig a footer for the stairs and make the stair stringer from scratch because the pre-made ones at Lowe's didn't work with the height and the size of the stair inset of our deck.

He was pretty proud that he cut the stairs right the first time :)

Then we started on the railing! They also had pre-made railing. But of course I didn't like it, so I wanted to make ours from scratch. Naturally.

This part was very tedious, more than I thought it would be. The railings had to be evenly spaced throughout the rail and then also perfectly matched up in the middle. Then we attached everything with the nail gun and attached it to the deck. That first section of railing took over almost two hours. I was so proud. Finally we had a section of railing up!

I then I looked down. And I noticed the nails sticking out of the sides of the railings...this was me:

Seriously, I see the shows and see the frustration of home owners. I knew what to expect, but it's always different when you're there and everything is taking forever and nothing is going right. But we survived and moved on.

We unscrewed the railing and started over. It was a little disheartening but we started using screws instead of the nail gun, because it was hard to keep the nail at a perfectly straight angle so that it wouldn't stick out. It went pretty fast from there!

Finally, we put up lattice to cover the bottom and give it a more finished look. I went with "straight" lattice rather than the traditional diagonal lattice. I think it looks more modern, plus it is much studier than regular lattice.

We still have to add the caps and stain it. Which is a point of disagreement between my Dad and I. Who is surprised? Leo actually agrees with me, though. I like this look with the dark stain floor and white accents:

 

While he prefers the natural color (so we would apply a clear sealant)...

Honestly, I don't dislike the second. But the darker stain just grabs my attention! We have 30-60 days to decide, while the treated lumber seasons out.

On a side note, all of the trees in the backyard, besides the two huge ones to the side, are now gone. I didn't expect to be quite as sad as I was to see the redbud come down. It was rotting from the inside out, so it had to come down. But the yard looks so blank without it now! Bigger, but blank. Here is a before and after...

Another point of disagreement, this time with Leo, is to whether or not to plant a tree there to replace it. I want to plant a tree to provide shade to the yard and some interest. 'Cause right now it's looking pretty bare. And of course my Dad agrees with me on this one (will we ever all agree??). All Leo can think of is more leaves for us to pick up in the fall. 

He asked me to wait to plant another tree until next year so we can go through a fall and see how bad our current leaf situation is. And I have to help with the leaves. I guess he thinks that will deter me. I have never minded raking leaves. But maybe that's because I secretly want to be able to create huge piles of leaves so that our dog can do this...

No, we don't currently have a dog. But as any of my close friends will tell you, I'm definitely a planner. So it's never too early to plan an entire tree around a dog we don't currently have being able to play in the leaves, right?? :) 

-Katie