Before & After: Restoring a Dilapidated Deck
When Elizabeth and her husband bought their house six years ago, the inspector told them the deck stairs should be replaced within the year. Every year they would add the deck stairs to their to-do list, and every year they somehow failed to get to that project. Until this year that is- after watching the deck stairs shudder when the family pet ran down them, Elizabeth decided the time had come to reclaim their outside space.
What started as just a project to replace the stairs turned into so much more. After pulling up a couple of boards on the deck to replace, they of course discovered more wood that needed to go. The stairs were all framed in when Elizabeth got the inspirational idea to widen them to make the deck feel more open. When all the structural work was done, Elizabeth and Luke used Restore Deck Liquid Armor to stain and protect the deck. They painted the railings white to play off the new dark grey finish. Finally, they repainted their french doors black (the house itself had been repainted years ago to remove the original flesh tone) and hung some lanterns to mimic sconces. The end result is an updated outdoor space finished just in time to take advantage of those long summer evenings.
(Images: Elizabeth/The Little Black Door)