Glorious, Beautiful, Wonderful DECK!

The deck is done! I want to shout it from the rooftops!!! And it is so PERFECT! It is just the right size for all our stuff without feeling crowded, and with room for the kids to still run around. It's so nice to come out of the back door and just be on the deck, as opposed to having to climb down two steep steps. I could go on and on. I LOVE THIS DECK! We're already planning a cookout for a week from Sunday, hehe! And I may or may not have invited just about everyone I know from here in town. It's a lot of people. I am sort of hoping that some people can't come, because it's going to be crazy!

Anyway, without further ado... here it is!! And, if you want to see the entire progression from start to finish, my album is here! It really is an amazing deck. It's 32 feet long, and 16 feet out from the house at its widest part (12 feet out at the rest). Such a great, great addition to our yard!

Construction wrapped up at around 11am, and I instantly ran out and started "moving in." We ate lunch out there (ahhh... bliss!), and then spent hours out there later in the afternoon. Today happened to be the warmest day so far this year, and it's still getting warmer, even at night! The kids wore their new swimsuits, which were Easter gifts from Niko's godparents, and tossed around water balloons and played with spray bottles. I sat on THE DECK (!!) and read my book. Really, it was awesome. Everyone loves the deck! We ate dinner out there, too, and then Gus and I moved the bigger things up there (the grill, the wood rack for the fire pit, etc.). We are in business! We will definitely be grilling outside this weekend!

It also hit me that giving the upper deck a facelift wouldn't be too hard. That deck is structurally sound. The part that I don't trust is the staircase, which is supported separately. In my perfect world, we would yank off the staircase and turn that deck into a balcony. Then we'd replace the flooring and rails with the same material as the new deck, and then skirt it all with white PVC (like the new deck). The framework is still good! I bet we could do it ourselves in one weekend, for a few hundred bucks. I don't know if it will happen this year, but I am VERY excited about this prospect! It would also mean that we wouldn't have to look at the staircase out of our dining room window. AWESOME!

In case you can't tell, I am a little excited today. Best. Deck. EVER!! :)