Summer Project Completion

For years, Jim and I have talked about wanting to improve our deck, and by improve I mean rip down the whole thing and start from scratch.  You see, our deck was small; too small for a patio table, too small for many people to stand on (you get the idea).  It was also falling apart.  Stairs were sagging and sinking into the ground, nails were popping out, and some boards even looked like they might be starting to rot.  Well, rewind to the beginning of June when we finally decided that this summer would be the summer we rebuilt our deck!

Fortunately for our bank account, my annual yard sale almost paid for the entire project (well, at least the lumber...and yes, it was a good yard sale this year).  The painstaking work began the following weekend and Jim realized that the old deck wasn't going to be as easy to take down as he thought.  It took many weeks, lots of sweat, and some arguing (because what home improvement project is complete without an argument?) but we now have a completed project!  It's nice having a handy husband!

Here is what the deck looked like before...

Disregard the pinata, I just have very few pictures of the old deck.

And here is the deck after (I didn't upload the "during" photos yet).