Painting!

Autumn is near, time to paint!

Our two back decks were in dire need of a good paint detailing. With autumn’s commencement just around the corner on the calendar, and after noting the great sunny weather forecast for this week, all were “on deck” (big grin) to get a move on with this last outdoor task for this year, that is, aside from the gardening and lawn keeping.

Pressure washing day!

Last week we already prepped the area by renting a pressure washer and the boys hopped into action by changing their clothing and donning rubber boots. The girls and I headed for the garage where I had already moved both vehicles out onto the driveway, and a clean sweep detail was in session to reorganize the summer sporting gear and welcoming back the winter stuff. It’s amazing how much can accumulate in just a few short months! Every item was handled and transferred to a new holding station depending on it’s season. Some were hauled down to the basement storage area for safekeeping until next summer.

Two brooms were swishing about to gather up the accumulated debris and dust/dirt in crevices and on the floor. Soon after many items were moved and the areas along the edges and door openings were completely accessible, the shopvac whirred to attention, and the built in vacuum canister was emptied of it’s mounting dust bombs.

Garage storage possibilities here in the east are not the same as the west coast’s ability to increase household space. Rather, many items must be taken indoors to safeguard and protect them from winter weather elements they endure with frigid temperatures cold enough to almost create icicles around the vehicles. It is not even optimal to maintain hockey gear outdoors, but last year we were lucky there. I just could not fathom the stench having them indoors myself.

Scrub a dub

The children gathered upon completion and drying of the pressure washed decking, sandpaper blocks in hand, scrubbing the deck flooring, railings, and spindles just as a captain of a ship would expect his crew to do to ensure his vessel’s wooden surface was ready for an ocean storm. Whisking away the dust and scrapings at the final stages of sanding, all were eager to participate in the painting project ahead. And then…it rained! And hard most of the weekend!

Our newly chosen paint color will now match the bricks, and not become an eye sore of a contrast any longer. As the sunshine dried off the wooden decks, our crew motioned into service, all began working effortlessly, sometimes sitting on chairs with their brushes swishing about with paint sometimes dripping onto their clothing, footwear, and deck surface.

There were times when biting the tongue became necessary; one particular incident when a blob of paint fell to the floor and someone walked all around to speckle up the deck floor, another when the full can of paint was bumped into and it tilted just enough for a rather large blob to roll down the edges and gather all around it’s base onto the deck. Recovery happened swiftly as all brushes appeared for a group scoop, brushing up the paint to prevent it from spilling over the edge of the deck.

As the second deck is having its (facelift) paint job performed today, it was lovely to replace all the furniture, plants, BBQ, and other things back onto the larger deck again. It’s such a lovely pleasure to have a fresh, clean surface, all ready now for the climate to come.

Lights going back up for evening twinkling.

Such a nice and clean deck!

Job now complete!