The deck from start to finish

The house as we bought it 3 years ago. Twin french doors from family room that lead to backyard.

Its hard to tell from the picture but the ground is really unlevel from the doors to the swing set so whenever we get a heavy rain we get a river of sorts running through the backyard. We decided to put a gravel pad under the deck to help with drainage.

We had 7 cubic yards of gravel delivered and it was our job to shovel it and spread it. The tractor and dump cart came in handy to get the gravel from the driveway to the backyard.

We hired Whitney Birch Construction to build us the frame since its a 2 person job and Mike has limited time and energy, They were supposed to do the frame and Mike was going to do the decking boards and railings. Project started in July and quickly stalled because our deck plan was too close to the fence line according to our city zoning ordinances.  We had to go for a variance with the city zoning board ( or cut the deck plan short by 4 feet which we did NOT want to do) and that set us back about 2 months  ( and several extra hundred dollars) as we waited for the meeting to happen and the approval to go through.  We got the approval and building continued in late Sept.  By this time we knew that Mike was having back surgery on Oct 10th. We were at the mercy of family, friends and co workers because any money we would have had to pay construction company to finish the deck had disappeared due to my adventures with my first root canal ( a story for another day).

 But Mike has amazing co workers and his dad and uncle and brother and a few other friends helped and the deck is DONE DONE DONE! We are very grateful for those that helped!! Its absolutely beautiful and I love it so so so much. I can't wait for Spring so we can enjoy it. Its like we gained a whole outdoor space. We used cedar decking boards (which Mike will stain in the Spring) and vinyl railings. We tried to keep it with the colonial theme that the house has and I think it came out great.

We also bought some Green Giant Arbor Vitaes ( at 50 and 75% off) and planted them along the fence line to the L of the deck to give us some privacy from our neighbors that are not our biggest fans. Some in a few years ( or sooner as these things can grow 3 feet a year!) we should have a nice live fence that will give us some privacy.