Spring Cleaning

Every year, about twice a year, I get this need to clean out things. Sort through, organize, purge, remodel, etc. The first round is around fall, and the second, naturally is around spring.
I am pretty good at keeping up with this task on a monthly basis actually. With kids that grow out of their clothes every few months, and my never-ending task of improving our house, I am happily underwhelmed by the spring cleaning bug.

I do need to buy more containers for the outgrown clothes, and I am always picking out places for an extra shelf or storage bin, but other than that I think we are in pretty good shape. This leaves me room for another project.

Previously, I mentioned my goal to makeover my backyard deck. Well, the process has begun, and is inching along...slowly.

Now I haven't taken "before" pictures...even though I have already started...sort of. But I do plan to take some this weekend when I really get into it. But here are the few old pictures I found of our lackluster deck.
(Look how little Lorelai is!)

Even my planting skills suck.

Those pictures are from spring 2012. And while I've killed numerous flowers, and moved the furniture around a bit...the general feel is still this bare-minimum, needs-a-lot-work, be-out-here-for-five-minutes kind of vibe. 

This is the most recent picture...from December 2013. Encased in inches of ice and sleet. Thoroughly dead, and thoroughly sad. The spring sun has not cheered up this area too much. We go from ice to 105' heat and back in a year, and this uncovered outdoor space has taken a beating over the years.

So far we have bought some new pieces to make the area seem more inviting and more comfortable. It's a mind trick really. If it looks pretty, I will be willing to hang out there more. Until July. Then nothing can entice me...but I have kids, and they kind of like this whole run-around-outside thing. So I press on.

I have begun filling in the larger cracks and splits in the wood with exterior stainable wood filler. This is about half way done, then I need to sand it down, and touch up any needed areas. Then it's just a couple coats of stain and sealant. It *should* take me a couple more weekends, but life has a way of laughing at my plans...so we'll see.

We also need to do some more weed control, grass seed some bare spots, plant some more bushes and such, but hopefully by the end of the month we will have another asset to the property.

Especially because we are already thinking about moving in a couple years. More to come on that later. ;)

Deck updates coming soon!

M.LEWIS