Open House

Welcome to our home - come right in - wait - let's stop at the deck, come, have a seat - a warm sunny day,  lots of flowers, maybe a glass of iced tea?

When we bought our house 5 1/2 years ago - it had no deck.  It had a tiny walk up porch 

I planted flowers - tried to use it as much as possible - but it was hard to even fit two chairs up there - we had to wiggle about to get back in the house of we were both out there - not a good solution for people who love to sit on the deck.  And certainly not big enough for a family barbecue

We saved up for a long time to get this load of supplies - and it was worth the wait - here comes the deck

Careful - that is some precious cargo

I was the designer - I didn't like any of the deck plans I looked at - so I drew up my own plans

Built by family - our son-in-law Jay was the main builder

See that dark hole?  That is the space that was the old porch

Our Grandson Jahn helping his Pop with the framing  - we had to use the back door during construction  

Jahn was always ready to work

Landscaping the yard after the deck was built - with a neighbor walking by and stopping to chat

Our first summer - the slats on the railing were the work of our daughter Beccy and son-in-law Jason. Our daughter Lori also helped in the main building of the deck.  I'm  not sure why I didn't get any photos of them helping - but I didn't

New deck furniture - and a few planters on the railing. The ramp is to the right of the photo

The cleat on the bench was given to me by Jason's father.  The pulley was a thrift store find, and the elephant watering can a Mother's  Day gift from Grandson  Ben. The rock on the right side has ocean fossils in it - and was found at 4,000 feet up the side of a mountain.

A pelican and two gnomes - they get along quite well

Pansies in pansy painted metal planters

Nasturtiums

Rows of railing planters - overflowing with nasturtiums - can you smell them?

Sometimes our deck looks like this - before I get out the leaf blower in the autumn (it is a small electric blower, but it can blow 150 mph - that takes care of the leaves in a hurry)

Sometimes it looks like this - brr rrrr rr r rrr ....

Poor pansies - but they survived

There is a wooden woodpecker door knocker if you'd like to come inside

Sometimes our deck is full of bubbles - and Ben

And grandsons eating a cupcake - enjoying summer

Or a grandson give the roses a drink of milk

In the summer I change out the flowers - sometimes Geraniums

Sometimes   Geraniums in the rain

Or Petunias

They grow fast to fill up the planters

And sometimes pansies

Lots and lots of pansies

But however it looks - it is one of our favorite parts of our home 

So glad you stopped by, our deck is pure joy to us - a place to share with family and friends, or a place to sit quietly alone and enjoy nature, and the long wait for it makes it all the more so.

Open House  , Ready To Waltz  

Share the Joy , Garden Party  

A Favorite Thing