Finally! Our back deck at the river is now enclosed in screen and the screen door is on. It took months while we waited for the inspectors to approve each step. Joel and l have been going up to the river the last three weekends to do little odds and ends and now we can sit on the porch in our rocking chairs and enjoy a cup of coffee.
One of the last steps was installing plywood over the existing decking and staining it. It took a week for that stain to dry because of the daily deluge of rain which made it remain very humid. Next time we go up there, we'll put the brand new slatted rocking chairs on the porch for the first time. Now I have another "room" to decorate! Yippee!
We also installed roll down shades to help keep out the rain, shield our eyes from the rising sun and give us a bit of privacy if we choose. Billy, our helper dude, pulled out the knock out roses that had seen better days and installed these easy care shrubs instead. They'll look really pretty against the tan lattice as they grow taller and bush out.
In this picture you can see a portion of the green stain we used on the floor.
I just like how welcoming the porch looks now with the roof and the screen enclosure. We barely used this deck before and now I think it will be our "outside" living room.
One of my favorite parts of the whole project, though, is the screen door. My buddy, Eb, lives at the campground. Eb knows everyone for miles around and when I told him how I had spotted an old fashioned screen door on a crumbling cabin that was falling into the river and that I would love to have it, he found a way to get it for me!
I left the original green paint on the outside(it actually matches our metal roof) and the inside paint is really faded out to a soft blue. The patina would be hard to duplicate by painting and I love that this door has a history to it. And I will always look at it with great affection for the time and effort Eb took to retrieve it for me. We put a spring on it so it slams when you let it go and each time it slams I am reminded of the screen doors of my youth.
What a great memory,
Thanks Eb!
Debbie
