DIY :: Staining a Deck + Lattice

Weekend Warriors. Back at it again. Our backyard is a constant work-in-progress. We've been trying to grow grass for almost 5 years now. Every spring we get renewed energy to rake the yard, till the ground, spread grass seed, cover with peat moss and proceed to water the shit out of it in hopes that we will have a luscious, thick, green yard that we can truly enjoy.  And every spring, the monster-hellion dog known as Rufus negates all of our efforts in approximately 4 hours. Oh, and we have moles. Like, all of the moles in the great state of Kansas set up camp in our yard and, in addition to the monster-hellion dog known as Rufus, do us no favors.

Two years ago, we brought in 11 tons (ELEVEN TONS, people...) of river rock to help fill in some of the areas that were perma-shaded instead of trying to plant grass (again...) and attempted to do some landscaping. The plants all died (oops...), the rock looked good, but the remaining vast areas of mud were not so cool. Last year, after breaking our backs to get the grass seed down, we attempted to fence off the worst part of the yard hoping to keep Rufus from ruining our lives but it was a no-go. He got into the fenced off area the next day (it was a really good fence, ok?!), ate some grass seed, and had a good ol' time digging int the mud.

A green thumb I have not...

So this year, we decided to focus our efforts on our back deck. It's a lovely deck - nice in size with a built-in bench but it is a little weathered. When we first moved in, we powerwashed that bad boy and applied a water/weather-proofing "stain". It wasn't tinted but the wood looked newer once it had been washed so we went with it. Years later, it was starting to look a little rough again so we decided to replace the lattice and give the entire thing a fresh coat. We borrowed the neighbor's powerwasher and Justin went to town. Two days, two coats, and 11 hours of staining later, it's done!

staining lattice = bitch work. so awful.

the littlest helper...

the worst helper...

We got started around 10 am Saturday morning. Gracyn was a big help, making sure to touch all of the wet stain everywhere she went. DIY with a toddler is no joke. She almost fell down the stairs multiple times and thoroughly enjoyed tasting dirt and collecting (and trying to eat...) rocks. 

By the end of day one, we had the first coat almost done. We ran out of stain so we called it a day and J made a trek to Home Depot so we were armed and ready for Day Two.

It looks good but I am sooo over staining. I'll take a few more pictures once we put the patio furniture back in it's place. We are also planning on adding some outdoor speakers (Happy Birthday, Justin!) and maybe a few potted plants if I can keep them among the living. My track record with foliage hasn't been so great but here's to hoping we can enjoy some greenery on our freshly-stained deck!