Knock on Wood...

Brian uttered the following words about noon today: "There's no such thing as an easy project"

So true.

As promised, we tackled the deck today. First, we got all our junk off it (boy, would we like a storage shed! We don't have a garage, and don't think building one would necessarily get us the return on investment we'd want, plus we have that giant cottonwood tree in the backyard with a root system running the entire length of the yard!). Then we swept. Then we used an air compressor to try to blow the dirt/leaves/dog hair/twigs out of the cracks. Then we used a screwdriver. Then I realized the best tool was a putty knife!

Then we realized we had to get some of that fancy deck cleaner stuff to make it actually clean.

So a zippy trip to Home Depot and we were back, armed with deck cleaner, a fancy long handled brush that attaches to the garden hose, and a staining brush attachment to paint with.

BOY DID THAT DECK CLEANER MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!! It actually "bleached" the deck back to a decent blonde color! Hooray!

Once everything dried (read, 2pm...) we tackled actually staining the deck. It looks FAB! (In hindsight, we should have sanded the spots that have white paint from our kitchen cabinets... but OH WELL!) It looks like a new deck though!


Now it's drying, (yikes - the container said let it dry 12 hours before using the deck!) and our yard is COVERED in stuff from above/below... good thing there's no rain in the forecast... knock on wood!