And back to your regular deck coverage

So, back to the deck progress after yesterday's counter-top-ordering-excitement. (Sidebar: have I mentioned how much I hate seeing the totals of all these materials add up? Geez, the counter top was bad enough, but composite decking is EX-PEN-SIVE!)

So let's cut to the chase and show those photos! I was able to get to DG a few minutes before the sun went down on Wednesday and snap these:

M giving the royal "I built this" wave

Still a few more cuts to do at the one end, but very much progress. Easier to see in the middle photo, the small blocks (a few inches high and a foot or so high) represent the railing supports (the little ones) and the pergola supports (the big ones). Yes, we're planning a pergola that has some kind of panels that can be retracted. This deck faces west, and in the summer this side of the house bakes. We could use a few more trees, but as it is, we had to carefully maneuver around the septic hatches (we're just far enough out of town that we don't have city sewer). Notice on that middle photo how the footings are not even? That's because the long stretch is straddling the septic tank. That's part of why those beams had to be so large and strong, because we had to bridge a long gap for that dumb tank. I guess it's not dumb, it just limits the construction and tree location in the back yard.

Yes, it's a pretty big deck. We have a deck just almost this size at our current house (albeit a much shadier one) and we LOVE it in the warm weather. With the west facing exposure here, we hope to be able to enjoy it much of the year. Yes it's big. But in a good way.

In other news, M and her dad installed the "ceiling" for our front porch. Kinda hard to see here (and still needs trim and paint) but more progress.

See, underneath there?

Happy weekend, everyone. It's supposed to rain here all weekend, so we hope to move back inside to vanity sanding and maybe painting. And then next week, there's lots happening. Yes, it's Thanksgiving, and NO we will not be in. But it's ok. It's getting closer every day.