Day 27-Staining

A couple of months ago Jon got a new deck put into his backyard. This replaced a patio with sinking flat stones, and a flower bed. Of course we knew we would have to stain the deck! Our plan was to stain it sometime in the month of May. Now, many of you know in order to stain a deck you must power wash it first, let it dry, then stain, AND it cannot rain within 48 hours of the day you stain...so as you can imagine herein lies the problem with the month of May. 

We borrowed the power washer from my Daddio, and power washed away! It didn't take too long, and we were super stoked to get the stain and STAIN! But...you can guess...it rained that night! I know, right? It just freaking figures! I mean I guess we could have looked at the weather forecast, but who does that? Before we knew it the month of May had gotten away from us. So now we were already in June and the weather is progressively getting warmer, but we had other things that topped the priority list. Finally, Jon and I decided we HAD to get the deck stained before the end of June. Leave it to us procrastinators, we get it finished on June 30th! Ha-Ha

Jon had to work this morning from 8am-12pm, so our plan was for me to go to the store, get the stain, come back and only stain the railing. Easy! So, I woke up this morning, drove to Sherwin Williams, got all of the supplies I thought I would need and headed to Jon's house. It took me around 3 hours to complete just the railing with spindles. By this point it was around 100 degrees outside. I was sweating like a pig, literally, and I was exhausted! I had already completed more of the deck than Jon and I had thought I would get done, so I decided I would surprise him by having the whole thing finished! It was a giant goal, but I thought I could muster the energy and get it finished! Plus, it was my first time staining a deck, so I thought it would be a good memory if I got it finished all alone! I set to work, and did touch up paint on all of the railings, and then set to work on the floor of the deck. I was taking frequent water breaks, and checking my phone when I did this. I checked my phone at one point and it was 12:30pm. I had a text from Jon that he was leaving work...I hurried up and painted the last stroke when Jon pulled up in the driveway. 

His face was priceless as he walked up to a fully, finished, stained deck! Hooray! Success! He was so happy, I was glad I pulled it off! Staining a deck is quite rewarding I realized after today. I also realized how great it makes your deck look! As Jon and I were driving to my house I was noticing decks and how some decks aren't stained and how the ones that are stained look 100% better!!! Lesson learned, experience gained.

Before stain, you can tell I started staining the handrails

Finished product!

Enjoy the pictures below!