We waterproofed our deck last year and I hate what it did to it, so I'm really hoping that it wears off this year so that next year, we'll do it right and with a better product.
I bring out the deck rug, cushion to my lounge chair & my deck poof as soon as I can but it's far from finished.
We keep our gas grill out on the deck year round and have been know to shovel a path through the snow in the winter to use it. Those three container pots in corner are going to hold herbs soon.
I came up with the brilliant idea of thick wood pieces to act as shelves on top of the wire shelves. So off to Lowe's I went and I came back with exactly what I was envisioning. I found a 2 inch thick board that was 8 foot long, had Lowe's cut it to the dimensions I needed and I hauled the pieces home.
Here is one of the boards unfinished and one of them after I stained it using Minwax's Mission Oak. It's a product that is both a stain & polyurethane.
After I was done staining, I also sprayed them with some Thompson Water Seal since they'll be outside.
I let the boards dry for several days before I went forward with the project. In the meantime, I re-spray painted the wire rack and let it dry.
Once everything was dry and with the help of our son, I was able to move the wire rack back out to the deck and set the boards on the shelves of the wire rack.
Here's the rack filled with the planters and garden things I love. There is a scented geranium planted in the owl planter and you can catch whiffs of it when you walk by.
This year I decided to dedicate this corner of our deck to mostly herbs with a container of petunias thrown in. I've got chives (they survived the winter in the pot and started growing again), dill, basil, flat leaf parsley, thyme and mint growing here. They do pretty good....lots of morning and early afternoon sun, but get a break from it in the evening.
New this years is my Hawkeye planter! I had never seen these black & gold petunias until I was out at Canoyer Garden Center and saw them there. I paired them with some yellow daisies. This isn't the best photo of the planter and I think it will look better once it fills in. I made the Hawkeye plant post myself using a post finial, black gloss spray paint, Herky stickers and sealant.....total cost...probably around $5 bucks.
This is a huge dish planter that I scored at IKEA years ago and I use it for herbs also. I have Rosemary and more Thyme planted in it this year.
A view of where I like to camp out on beautiful days. Because the deck sits on the east side of our home, it's can almost too hot and sunny in the mornings so I have to use an umbrella when sitting out there. After 2:00pm, the sun is over the house the it's shaded the rest of the day and evening.
Here's where we like to dine when the weather cooperates. I bought new chair pillow this year in a blue, green and yellow color scheme and they are just the right thing to support your back if needed.
Of course our deck wouldn't be complete without paying homage to one of our favorite things in the world.......cats! Found this guy (made out of salvage auto parts) at our local farmer's market years ago and he still makes me smile with I see it.
Enjoy your week! I'm heading to Texas to see some long time friends and whoop it up a bit!
