We have been making slow and (somewhat) consistent progress on the red hizzy. I say slow because well, it's slow. We have been trying to squeeze in as much physical labor as possible, but as of late, we have been oot and aboot (as the Canadians say, eh?) gallivanting all over the place! We went on a VERY much needed vacation to St. Thomas (I promise I will share deets in another post), I went on a loooooong ass road trip with my father to move my not-so-little little sister out of her dorms, we've been in Woodstock, Woodstock (my fabulous in-laws) have been to us, and now it's the end of May and I'm shaking my spinning head wondering where time has gone. So, what have we done in the one-day weekends we've managed to salvage?
We have been working on the deck, trimming trees, and decorating at a snails pace. Yup, decorating. Doesn't sound like a huge task, but holy hell peeps! It's even a bigger, more complicated task than I thought. I guess it's that way because I have VERY expensive and picky taste. What?! You?! you ask. Oh yes, my darlings, me. Sometimes my need for perfection and a specific 'thing' will drag me to the ends of the earth interwebs before I will even remotely consider or begin to say yay or nay to what it is I want to greet us everyday in our home. Which, actually, is quite hilarious because whatever I do end up loving is usually white or light colored. Why is that so funny? Two words, one equation: Teenager + Dog. What does that equal? You're all so smart you don't need a cheat sheet. So, throughout my quest, I sometimes have to bid a fair adieu to the lovelies I so badly would love to have grace our home. It's cool though. I happen to really like both the teenager and the dog. So you're probably curious as to if/what we have purchased for RHN. Well, so far, we have scooped up three area rugs - one for the master bedroom and one for Cmans, and one last one for the living room. The deals I've scored are AMAZING (and yes I yelled it and yes I meant to) on a website called rugsusa.com. They have had some serious sales.
For example:
Yes, that's our receipt for two area rugs. Yes, that says $235.20 (before tax). And yes that's for one 8x10 and the other a 4x6, both of which were shipped for free. When we get them, inspect them, and lay them out, we will share their glorious selves. That's not the only thing we've scored for a hell of a deal this past weekend. Have you folks ever heard of Bradsdeals.com? No? Well, go. I am ordering you. Ok, how about you go after you're done reading. Yea, totally a better idea. Anyway, I got an email from them outlining deals for the holiday weekend. As I was scrolling down I saw the holy grail beaming at me though my iPhone.
OH. EM. GEE!! STFU! That's the patio set I have been coveting for months!! But really? At $400 it was a little out of budget considering the other fun things (like vacationing in the USVI and rebuilding a deck) we have been up to. Well, let me tell ya sumtin', when I saw that the set price was slashed in half and shipped for free the happy dance that ensued was grand (albeit dorky) and involved me yelling for Ed to come and approve my kill. Oh the cold beers and glasses of wine sodas and glasses of water that will be consumed on the new deck will now look even more lovely because of Martha. Thanks, Martha! Camp cupcake did wonders for you and our new deck!
Speaking of the deck. Peoples, this deck rebuild has been....interesting. And frustrating. And expensive. And delightful. And Hot. Yes, hot. With temps around here topping 85 with 100% humidity, you do nothing but drip sweat and drink water. But, I'll tell you what - our container garden looks fab thanks to the rain and warm weather. Yuuuuum, veggies. Ok, so, the deck. We originally had a plan to reuse the boards and just spruce those old guys a bit, however, they were beyond sprucing up. They were so beyond warped, cracked, and full of old rusty broken nails there was no saving the ol' boys. Remember how it used to look?
So, while we slightly (but not really) wept about 86-ing the money saving green tree hugging idea of reusing the old boards and just installing new railings and steps, we ultimately decided to buy all new decking, too. See?
As you can tell, we went with pressure treated wood. We weighed the pros/cons of pressure treated wood vs the composite decking, and the pros of pressure treated wood outweighed the pros of composite. And in all seriousness, while we weighed price (yes, you know we're bargain hunters) it didn't out weigh any other pro/cons.
So, we are about 3/4 of the way done with the decking floor board installation and it's looking amazing! We still have to go purchase railing materials and stair stringers and steps, but we are almost half way there. I will post a teaser pic or two for you to sneak a peek, but I will totally encapsulate it's glory with the fancy camera when it's all done. So excited!
We still are deciding on a color to stain this giant, but are in the process of narrowing it down. So, for now, that's all we have to share. When the deck is finally complete (hopefully within the next few weekends) I will share ALL details including budget breakdown. Exciting. I know.
