The house we bought in 2002 came with this crazy 3-level deck, part of which—a ramp leading to the sort-of attached garage—was covered by a very sloped little roof. No part of the deck was really quite large enough to be useful for entertaining or relaxing, so it became kind of a storage space for plants, a potting table, recyclables, plastic chairs, etc. I don’t think I was able to get my husband to spend more than one or two short spells out on the deck during the entire eight years that it existed!
At some point early on, we removed the railing between the deck and the backyard, as it served no purpose and blocked my view of my garden. We later had the poorly built sidewalk removed and all the hackberry trees taken out.
The whole ecosystem in the backyard changed with the removal of the trees. We do plan to plant a food garden with all the sunlight we now enjoy and some new good trees to replace some shade.
In 2008, we had a pretty serious hail storm that damaged the deck and the siding on the house, so we decided to tear the whole thing down and start over.
The process began in the fall 0f ’09, and we, unfortunately, experienced a few troubling delays, but by the end of January 2010, we had our new deck and pergola. We then had new lighting installed, and finally had our house painted. Then we picked up some new deck furniture and decorations—candles, plants, wind chimes and lanterns—which together have made all the difference in our ability to enjoy this lovely space. Now we spend some time out there every evening, drinking a brew and letting all the day’s kinks unwind.
Woo-hoo! Nothing a little good design (plus a lot of effort and a few thousand dollars) couldn’t fix. Now to tackle the garage debacle. 😉
View the evolution in the slideshow below:
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