Worth the effort

I’m so overdue with this post, there is no forgiveness.:) But in my defense, we were simply busy these days to fully commit to spending time on the deck or cook for guests. But this weekend we had a reason to celebrate – our truck got fixed and V is back in business. So we had family over for a bbq and enjoy time on our freshly updated patio:

I think it's a progress compared to what it was.

I’m glad we chose semi-transparent stain over solid, simply because I love seeing wood texture through the stain. It won’t last as long as solid, but I’m ok with that. Overall, I’m happy how this turned out: without too much $$ invested (grill doesn’t count) and no over the top splurges, we were able to make this place cozy for us to relax in after work or on weekends without leaving the house.

Have you recently updated a patio, terrace or balcony? Please share, I’d love to hear from other backyard enthusiasts!

New grill for our patio

Some patio/garden shopping has been made this weekend. It took a lot of me not to stop by the flourishing garden centers in local stores, but I’ve picked up a few items for our patio décor and also got a charcoal grill!
Doesn’t it look futuristic? I love its egg shape:

We are hard-core grillers - we grill every weekend (and some weekdays) during summer, so this purchase is a long-term investment. It’s also very functional: you can smoke and bake food in there. I can't wait to try baking some bread in it.
After a LOT of gardening and staining the-never-ending-deck over the weekend, we’ve opened the season with our first impromptu bbq. Yummy!

Decked out

It started on Sunday, when weather was so nice that it was hard to stay indoors. I decided to start working on the deck. I have set May 20th as my deadline and I wanted no time to be wasted. Little did I know that it would take me full day Sunday and three following evenings (after work) to do the prep work alone! Swiping, sanding, washing…oh the washing!

I’m happy to report that I'm full on staining, finally. It’s actually not that hard to do on a clean flat surface, it’s the railings that are more tricky and will take few hours for sure, but hopefully I’ll be done applying the second coat by the weekend (thank you, weather!).
How do you like my little audience who kept on eating while I was on my knees doing the hard work?

With getting the deck all ready for summer, I totally forgot to prep my toenails for the season, how sad is that?

Patio plans

In the spirit of warmer and sunnier days, it’s been hard not to pay attention to our patio situation. One word – sadness (the moody picture really helps to illustrate that). I find the excuse of not being ready “patio-wise” in the fact that we’ve been homeowners for only a year. Last summer – was our first summer in the house, so we were caught completely off guard in terms of putting together some sort of seating/relaxing area to enjoy the sun. So the deck was practically unused. This year, I’ve decided to look into the situation thoroughly and make the best out of our very descent size deck and gazebo.

Furniture

As for the outdoor furniture, we knew we wanted more of a lounge type of seating, rather than dining table and chairs. An area, where we would hang out after dinner, an area for light bbq cookouts, a place to enjoy drinks after work in warm summer evenings.

So after some heavy browsing the net for an affordable patio set, I found a used one on Kijiji. Yes, ideally, who wouldn’t want a brand new, bright-coloured, freshly-cushioned patio set, right? Especially at this time of year, when all those “perfectly-set-up-outdoor-patio-ads” are screaming at you from magazines? But the truth is, we’re fine with having to sit on “used” furniture. It’s in a good shape, which means it passed the test of time and more importantly, it suits our budget and our needs.

Grill
Our compact charcoal grill that we've been using for the past couple of years didn’t make it through the winter and had to be disposed of. We are thinking of getting a similar portable one to take to parks and beaches and we are also thinking of investing in a bigger charcoal grill to use when bbq-ing on the patio. V has been thinking of making a mangal himself, as it's more traditional for us to use than a regular grill. That may be a project for the future though, due to finding the right type of metal, cutting and welding it.

Deck
Now that the outdoor furniture matter and grill situation have been dealt with, I’m determined to freshen up our deck. The structure is only three years old but it looks like 15. I hate to see the wood fading and being unprotected, not to mention – it doesn’t look very inviting. I'm very eager to paint/stain it all, so it might look something like this.
Have you ever painted or stained your deck? Was that worth time/effort/money for something to be abused by our harsh climate?