deck reno.

When we first bought our new home the house inspector told us that the deck was unsafe and would need to be completely replaced. Fast forward almost one year later and we are finally making the repairs. Our deck is in an okay condition but the floorboards have splinters and cracks, the railing is just plain hideous and the stairs and underneath the deck area are not up to code. Luckily our good friend Mike Callen who is a contractor,building WV was willing to help us out with the repairs. Mike is a wonderful contractor and an even better friend! A huge THANK YOU to Mike and all of our friends who came to help us with this project! 
At first we were thinking of just using a product to "renew" the deck boards but after researching the product we choose to just go ahead and replace the old deck boards with new ones. This ended up being a blessing in disguise because after ripping out the first deck board we realized that the joists that support the deck boards were almost completely rotted through. So back to Lowes Mikey went to buy more lumbar to reinforce the rotting joists. Underneath the deck they solidified the foundation of the deck by adding larger posts and moving them further in. Mikey and I made a couple trips to Lowes to pick out railing and were at a loss. So thank you to Mike Callen for coming with us and dealing with our indecisiveness. We finally chose a white composite railing with white posts and black balusters. I love it and am so excited we chose that combination. Since we went with the pressure -treated lumber for the deck boards we cannot stain the deck until next year, but in a way I am sort of glad as it will give us time to really think about what color we want the deck to be. Mike and Mikey built a much needed new set of stairs for the deck and all thats left to do is put up the stair railing and build the stairs underneath the deck (who knew one could get so excited over stairs and railing).  Now the only thing left to do is decorate! Thank you again to everyone who helped out on our deck renovation! We are in LOVE with our new outdoor living space and can't wait to have everyone over for a huge party! (now that it's safe!)

Before (so awful):

During:

putting down the new deck boards

putting up the new railing system

Finished product (well mostly finished):

I'll post more photos once it's 100% done :)

fourth of july.

Happy Fourth of July!  This year we had a pretty low key holiday weekend with family and friends.  Mikey's brother Beau, his wife Sarah and our adorable Godson William came to stay with us.  Logan enjoyed playing with his baby cousin and we had a wonderful time grilling out on our almost completed new deck and spending time with them.  We watched the fireworks over Cheat Lake at Mike's lake house with friends.  Logan was a little nervous about fireworks or "thunderworks" as his friend Presley calls them, but he got over his fear and I think he really enjoyed them.  Saturday we went over to one of Mikey's co-workers homes for a cook out and we enjoyed meeting and making new friends.  It was a long weekend but a good one.  We are so lucky to live in a country where we are free and independent.  Thank you to all who serve or have served our country to protect our freedom.  God bless America!