Painted

Zeke power washed the deck a couple weeks ago. With the weather slated to be sunny and dry all weekend, it was the perfect time to get the deck painted. I admit this hadn't been done in, roughly, 5 years, but I was looking forward to it.

I headed over to Ace Hardware and spent a good 30 minutes with the very helpful people deciding what stain to use and how much of it to buy. "How big is your deck?" Um...that question I wasn't prepared for. "It's 2.5 steps this way and 4 steps this way." We had a chuckle about that.

There are so many options and colors of deck stain. Zeke said that the washable stains and paints are just as good as the oil based ones now which opened up a whole section of colors. I really liked the light color of the exposed wood. The original stain color was a dark redwood. That was nice, but I wanted something different.

After much discussion, I chose this; Cabot brand Australian Timber Oil stain in Honey Teak color. I bought brushes I was just going to toss when done and mineral spirits to clean myself off should I get sloppy. I also got a pack of latex gloves to save my hands, but wound up not using them or the mineral spirits.

Painting started at 11 a.m. The deck steps were done first, followed by the railings. Then, I sat down and began working on the deck floor. Even without arthritis, I wouldn't be the most limber person. The arthritis made difficult the job of maneuvering around as I painted. I'm awkward and sitting cross-legged is not something I think I'll ever be able to do comfortably again. The stain went on very easily and quite quickly. I had to take a break at noon with a little over half of the deck done. I got my cane because it helped me to stand up and move to a new spot to paint. An hour later, the first coat was done.

Part of the time in the store was spent trying to decide if one can of stain would be enough. With bare wood, you know it would soak up whatever was put onto it. The guy helping me was a bit leery that one can would be enough to provide an adequate stain. But, when I said I really didn't want a can 3/4ths full sitting around in my basement, he read the side of the can and it says one can would be enough. As it turned out, I had about a fifth of a can left from the first coat. Figures, doesn't it?

So, on Sunday, I decided to use this up. It was harder to scooch around the deck this time. My muscles complained and several times, I just had to sit to recover. What I had left covered most of the deck top. I had done some planting and put flower pots on the deck. I painted around where those were sitting, but covered almost every other section.

I'm very pleased with the final result. It looks rich. I know I could not have done this last year. It would have been way, way beyond me. While it was painful at times and my range of motion is not what I remember it being when I did this 5 years ago, it is a testament to my recovery that I could scoot along, albeit slowly, and get this done. I don't have to do this now for a couple years.

I fixed the crack in the pseudo bird bath this weekend and opened up the storage shed to bring out some pots for seeds and found ants in various places. Now that they have been chased out, I want to bring out the deck chairs and table. I'm looking forward to enjoying this space again.

Beverage:  African Rooibos tea

Deb