Tuesday, March 14, 2017
painted deck project
painted deck project


I am not into the latest and greatest home decor trends and I NEVER want to feel like my home is "too precious" to take risks and try something unique, creative or even weird. While I love home decor shows, magazine and blogs- I also think it is easy to fall into trendy, safe and practical thinking when it comes to your house. I am not safe nor am I practical and I tackle most DIY projects like an artist. I love color, pattern and I believe that paint is one of the most affordable and easy ways to transform just about anything in your home into art. My husband Andy is super supportive of my approach but he always asks that we try to find a long term, well thought out way of making my ideas happen.


Here are the reasons we selected paint instead of stain:
- Paint will fill gaps and cracks.
- Paint will resist mold, rot and sun damage.
- We own our home and I know that we will be living here for a long time so a crazy project like this doesnt affect us like it would if we were renting or planning on selling soon.
- Our deck will eventually need to be replaced and painting it this year is simply taking the necessary steps to buy some time, save for a deck renovation and get a little more time out of it.
- We liked the idea and look of colorful paint weathering and even peeling.



Once my outline was dry, then I began filling in areas of color. Once again, this is off the top of my head.

The process of adding color, is all about using my gut so I spent a lot of time standing and looking at my design from different angles. My biggest goal is to achieve balance and harmony with my colors.

As those big areas of color began to dry, I added more color to the top and then started laying down details. We really wanted to make sure that the deck had about 2-3 layers of paint on the entire surface so each of my designs all have layers of colors to ensure that the wood is nice and saturated with paint.

I worked back and forth with painting different areas with layers of color and details. Thankfully we had nice weather so the paint was drying as I worked and I could move around easily.

Lucy even joined in on the painting!

This process took me about 3 days working in chunks of about 3 hours at a time. So a total of around 9 hours. Working on a floor is much different than working on a wall and it can take a fast toll on your back and knees. My body can take about three hours straight of painting then I step away and come back the next day.

The last step was to touch up the remaining side of the deck with a solid dark brown.
NOTE: We did not seal the paint only because the paint we used was made to withstand weather and the elements. But keep in mind no matter how heavy duty the paint or even if its made for a deck, eventually it will age, weather and peel...there is just no way around it.


Then came the really fun part and that was doing a little bit of decorating! Up until now, we really havent used our deck. We have a huge backyard that we love to hang out in. But we do a lot of grilling so we really wanted a fresh, colorful updated space to use while Andy cooks outside on the BBQ.

We moved some of our outdoor furniture to the deck, purchased some plants to add even more color and the next thing I knew, we had completely and TOTALLY transformed this space! Now weve been enjoying our meals out here, using it as a place to hang out and draw or read. It has been so much fun to have a new space to use now that the weather is nice.











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