Here is photographic evidence of our major summer projects.
The first two pictures show the spectacular renovation of the steps and patio approaching our house on Whidbey Island. The path from the parking area to the front porch used to be made of large slabs of broken concrete. They led to a concrete patio and a large wood deck front porch. As you can see, we took out all the broken concrete, the concrete patio and half of the wood deck. In its place we put in Montana slate flagstones, a planting bed alongside the house and a gravel path from the parking area. Dom also rebuilt the broken concrete walls by the patio to give them a softer profile. Last Wednesday we put in the sod that wraps around the porch. There used to be large gravel in this area and it was a miserable spot for weeds. This project took us about six weeks. The bulk of the work was finished by the end of July (in time for the annual party) but we still have a few details to finish up when we find the time—a small planter in one corner and painting the new boards on the porch. Piano, piano as the Italians say—slowly, slowly.
The other big project was painting our large (700 s.f.!) deck. It turned out to be a really horrible job. Rather than the week I anticipated, the whole thing eventually took three weeks. Luckily, we had our only really wonderful extended stretch of good weather while I was working away at this. The prep work was the worst of it—scraping and sanding. Luckily power tools helped but it was still a tough, dirty job and most of it was done on my hands and knees. The paint had to be scraped out from between every board and later I had to hand paint between every board. Dom also had to replace at least twenty boards due to damage from rot. It was interesting to watch the edges of the decking just disintegrate when the pressure washer stream hit them. Still, it all looks wonderful now and hopefully it will last for a while. Painting a deck is nearly always a bad idea so when it needs to be done again we just might tear the existing decking off, replace it and stain it. Oh, so much easier to maintain!
Dom also spent time working on the car trailer and his shop. Right now he is trying to get the little shed (where he has his race car body mold) spruced up so he can get some work done in there over the winter. I still have plants to get in the ground this week (mostly from existing pots) and some cutting back of things that are on their last legs. Today I picked about 5 cups of blackberries to freeze and our apple tree is covered with fruit that I want to do something with before the end of the week. Not only has fall arrived but next Monday we are off to Italy again.
We have already decided that next summer we are only going to do maintenance—no big new projects. Things are looking really good outside and it will be fun to just keep it that way. Having said that, there are two bathrooms inside that need updating…
The first two pictures show the spectacular renovation of the steps and patio approaching our house on Whidbey Island. The path from the parking area to the front porch used to be made of large slabs of broken concrete. They led to a concrete patio and a large wood deck front porch. As you can see, we took out all the broken concrete, the concrete patio and half of the wood deck. In its place we put in Montana slate flagstones, a planting bed alongside the house and a gravel path from the parking area. Dom also rebuilt the broken concrete walls by the patio to give them a softer profile. Last Wednesday we put in the sod that wraps around the porch. There used to be large gravel in this area and it was a miserable spot for weeds. This project took us about six weeks. The bulk of the work was finished by the end of July (in time for the annual party) but we still have a few details to finish up when we find the time—a small planter in one corner and painting the new boards on the porch. Piano, piano as the Italians say—slowly, slowly.
The other big project was painting our large (700 s.f.!) deck. It turned out to be a really horrible job. Rather than the week I anticipated, the whole thing eventually took three weeks. Luckily, we had our only really wonderful extended stretch of good weather while I was working away at this. The prep work was the worst of it—scraping and sanding. Luckily power tools helped but it was still a tough, dirty job and most of it was done on my hands and knees. The paint had to be scraped out from between every board and later I had to hand paint between every board. Dom also had to replace at least twenty boards due to damage from rot. It was interesting to watch the edges of the decking just disintegrate when the pressure washer stream hit them. Still, it all looks wonderful now and hopefully it will last for a while. Painting a deck is nearly always a bad idea so when it needs to be done again we just might tear the existing decking off, replace it and stain it. Oh, so much easier to maintain!Dom also spent time working on the car trailer and his shop. Right now he is trying to get the little shed (where he has his race car body mold) spruced up so he can get some work done in there over the winter. I still have plants to get in the ground this week (mostly from existing pots) and some cutting back of things that are on their last legs. Today I picked about 5 cups of blackberries to freeze and our apple tree is covered with fruit that I want to do something with before the end of the week. Not only has fall arrived but next Monday we are off to Italy again.
We have already decided that next summer we are only going to do maintenance—no big new projects. Things are looking really good outside and it will be fun to just keep it that way. Having said that, there are two bathrooms inside that need updating…
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