Weekend Project

What a beautiful weekend we enjoyed here in Virginia! The weather was perfect. And, since it's not supposed to rain again until next weekend, it was finally time to work on staining our deck. After doing a lot of research on different products and being enticed by some stunning photos, Margo and I decided to get a little fancy and go with a two-tone effect. The railing will be an opaque sage green; our thought is that it will sort of disappear when looking out the sun room windows into the forest. The floor will be stained a translucent dark brown.

After 3 days of working on the deck, we've learned a few important lessons:

1. Never underestimate the time it will take to painstakingly paint all those little support bars on a railing system. Each of those little bars has four sides. Where they hook into the top and the bottom rails creates nooks and crannies that have to be cut in. Hundreds of nooks and crannies. Hundreds...
2. Yes indeed, I still have claustrophobia. And that little space between the stairs and the siding of the deck is as tight as it looks. Small. Tight. Constricting. It's getting smaller, I tell you!
3. Spiders are abundant, and they take special delight in crawling out right in front of you when you least expect it. But, with practice, you can still hold onto that brush and bucket without jumping back and embarrassing yourself.
4. Opaque stain is far better than translucent stain. The green went on like silk, and the coverage was great. The dark brown went on like runny water and left a splotchy, unpleasant effect. Yes, we are now thinking of stripping it all off and starting over with an opaque product. It's a costly mistake, and exposes our vanity.
5. Believe it or not, it's possible to wrap your arms through the support beams of an extension ladder that is precariously balanced on a hillside and stretch out almost 5 feet to reach that little spot you missed on the underside of the railing. And you can even live to tell about it on a blog!
6. Work is far more fun when interrupted by a spaghetti break with friends (thanks, Kearneys!).
7. Our local Home Depot offers a wonderful opportunity to practice patience and grace. You see, their paint mixing computers broke at the beginning of the holiday weekend, so they were not able to mix up another gallon of the green so we could finish the project. What's more, they can't guarantee that the color we originally received can ever be duplicated because the computers weren't tinting correctly to begin with. Of course, we're welcome to drive all the way into Manassas to get another gallon from that Home Depot that might not match, either. Whee!
8. God continues to bless us, and we love our home. The woods, the sound of birds singing, the beautiful deck (which will be even more beautiful when we're finished), the peace, the friends, etc... it's all wonderful!

We still have a long way to go. If we end up stripping the deck floor and stairs and starting over, that will push us back a day or two. And we've decided we need to invest in a simple sprayer before tackling all the lattice work at ground level below the deck. It's supposed to rain next weekend, which would be a Bad Thing(tm), but we'll work with whatever God gives us and laugh our way through it. Once we're done, I'll post pictures!