Small Home Improvement Project - Our Backyard Deck Part 1

Our backyard has been a pitiful site for a very long time.  Often neglected and ignored it has become a storage lot more than a yard housing the remnants of past projects and items for future ones as well.  This year is our year to move outside and take care of some much needed home improvement projects moving beyond basic maintenance and adding in some pretty.  I am super excited about the things we have planned.

It has been looking a little rough back here

We initially began this project during my staycation

We decided to begin in the backyard and as time goes on we'll be moving forward until we reach the end of our driveway.  That's the goal anyway, but we have had a few obstacles lately, mostly to do with weather.  Two weeks of downpours have hampered our efforts, but now the sun is out and we are back in project mode.

 

Last Friday evening I re-sanded the deck and
then the young one and I got it stained - Yay!

First up was to sand our upper section of the deck and get a fresh coat of stain applied.  We thoroughly sanded and got it ready for stain and then the rains came.  Once the deck had dried out we sanded it again and got the stain on allowing it to cure for a good twenty four hours before we did anything else.

 

Progress!
The upper deck and the steps have been stained

The lower deck where we currently have our grill will be a separate project of its own, but for now we have the upper deck ready to receive a major face lift.  As if the staining wasn't enough we are finally adding a pergola to our deck for some much needed shade and a pretty factor to boot.  I have wanted to have a pergola for ages and after a very long wait, the wait is over.

 

Here is a sneak peak as the first pieces go up 😄

We began construction of the pergola over the weekend and hope to have it completed by this coming weekend so I will be sharing that project very soon.  I am so excited about this you guys, you have no idea.  I've waited a long, long time for this to become reality and it finally is!  Stay tuned!