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Had to begin with a photo of the incredible Colorado Columbines
blooming in Hadley's Patch right now.
They are 'picture perfect'.
So we begin with photos of the porch deck as it looked in the beginning....
Always wonderful with the covered porch, but a bit too narrow to sit with more than a few people.
We always wondered why they had gone with the strange shape...
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| View when you open the door going out to the porch |
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We added the porch swing last year -
my birthday present and I just love it! |
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I had to go to work on Thursday, and arrived home that evening
to find that the porch had been added in a day!
New rails had to be ordered, so they are not installed in the photos below, just a temporary board to keep the grandchildren from falling off.
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This is the view NOW from the door going out to the porch!
There are steps that drop down to the lower level |
I wasted no time in getting the furniture arranged on the new deck!
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| View from the far covered end where the stairs are. |
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| View from the door going out to the porch. |
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| So excited to have a propane fire table! |
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| View from the porch swing. |
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| A wine barrel from Napa for serving space. |
An extra 14 square feet
makes all the difference for enjoying the porch!
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| Austin and friend Shane |
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| Jim and Soo |
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| Morgan and Ben |
By the end of the evening, we'd pulled all the rocking
chairs off the covered portion of the porch
and had eight people gathered around
the fire to enjoy the evening and one another!
BLISS!
And there's more...
At the end of the porch there is a set of stairs
that lead to 'The Gathering Place'. This was an area we worked at creating last year. However, without a level surface our adirondack chairs were coming apart. So, we decided to create a ground level deck.
We knew it wasn't level, but had no idea just how sloped the area was.
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| First a run to get 16' boards for frame. |
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| Each of these concrete footers weighs 50 lbs. and we needed 32! |
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Jim consults his plan he googled and printed -
Each of those dark marks you see on the plan
indicate where each of the concrete footers need to be placed. |
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| Getting the basic frame done. |
I just had to try the chairs after we got the finishing boards laid out.
(Notice the chair color - it changes!)
Notice that you can't yet see the octagon shape.
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| Cutting off the ends of the boards. |
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| Rented a sander for four hours for the next stage of our project! |
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| Staining the deck... |
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Jim added stairs -
Here is one place you can see the implications of the sloping grade of the ground. |
And then it's finished!
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| Painted all the chairs a deep red. |
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| Jim did an awesome job on this deck! |
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View from the driveway as you approach the house.
LOVE both of these seating areas so much!
So grateful to have a comfortable area
to enjoy the beauty of nature and
to have a place to sit and visit with
family and friends.
We'll enjoy these two areas for years and years to come! |
