{The Deck} It's started!

As if we didn't have enough to do already with Lily's big girl room remodel and working in Lily's Garden, we started another project! And this one isn't just for Lily! Although the other two aren't just about her too, but both use her name. This one is for everyone! 

When we bought the house, we were blessed with a giant concrete patio for our back yard. It has allowed for many parties to happen and now that we have furniture, we can enjoy it even more. However, we had some issues out here too. The big one - safety! Although the patio is nice, the crumbly concrete stairs with no handrail screamed for some improvement. For some reason we allowed it go on for 6 YEARS, using it mainly for our dogs (our screened in porch is off the kitchen and connects it to our backyard) now that the fence is up. But we've had problems. Lily has to have help going up and down them for fear of a dog bumping her off (my fear, not her's - that girl is fearless some days!). We actually had an accident on the stairs involving the dogs. Krypto, our big guy, knocked our old chihuahua Beefy off of it and probably gave her a concussion. We were really worried about her as she couldn't walk straight and her crazy long chihuahua tongue stuck out of her mouth, sideways. She wasn't right but eventually came to and was fine. But it brought it back to our attention that something needed done. Like yesterday!

So... anyway, now that you know the backstory... Doug and I (mostly Doug, this is his baby) designed a raised wooden deck to fit the house. Our house has some corners and such on this side due to the house, the screened in porch, and the basement exterior door. You can kind of see it if you scroll down.

Thanks to my dad and his collection of tools, he brought over his concrete saw for Doug to use Wednesday. The concrete wasn't very thick, luckily, and Doug was able to get them cut without any major problems. Six holes needed to be dug and four of them were through our concrete patio. 

Here's looking back at our house. Doug's grill has seen better days and will be replaced once the deck is done. But our deck will start at the fence, leaving room for the gate and a walkway between the deck and the garage (on the left side, just out of the picture frame). As I mentioned above, there are some corners for the deck to fit into, so it'll start at the gate, curve around the edge of our house, go towards the door, and then curve into where his grill is. It'll end on the far right of this photo, which is the basement door, so kind of an L shape or an upside down F. Yeah, I probably just lost you.... 

There will be enough room on the deck for Doug's grill (probably near the fence, overlooking Lily's Garden) and then some chairs, where his grill is in the above picture. There will be steps down to the patio and I'm thinking of figuring out some sort of doggy/baby gate so that we can sit up on the deck without the dogs being in our face. I mean they have the rest of the patio and back yard to enjoy! I'm also visualizing some pretty planters/hanging baskets, fun lighting, and pretty decorations out here. We haven't really messed with the backyard except for Lily's play yard. I have high hopes for this space! It'll help me get some of the rest of the yard in shape too, including painting our shed to make it into a chicken coop, fixing our two garden spots, finishing up Lily's play yard (mulching and fencing it in to keep dogs out), and planting more flowers. That'll all probably happen this fall or next spring.