So I have been a home owner for 6 years…isn’t that crazy how time flies.  And since I bought this home, the number 1 thing I said I needed to do is stain my deck.

You see my deck is amazing – just an atrocious red color.  Plus, I added an addition a couple of years ago that didn’t match. Oh, I tried to ignore it…but you can see in the picture…it was like Clifford, the Big Red Dog:

Before the Deck Staining Party

So I put my mind to it.  Here is how I stained my deck – 1,4oo square feet of it.

Nine Steps to Staining Your Deck:

  1. Create a plan – with the handy dandy advice from my dad.
  2. The Plan- wash deck, dry deck, stain deck – seems simple enough–oh no.
  3. Spray and scrub your deck – 2 reasons to clean your deck before staining – 1- you need to remove the mold and mildew, 2 – the dirt  must be removed so the stain will adhere to the deck surface.  You can powercwash or you can find several deck washes at Lowes/Home Depot – you will need a little sprayer and a scrub brush.  SUPER Important.
  4. Dry deck for 48 hours at least
  5. Enlist help – I asked my family if they would come help – I called it a deck staining party…and provided lunch, snacks and festive beverages. Plus, co-blogger Chris, watched my dog. They graciously helped.  Help is important…doing it by myself would have been miserable.
  6. Buy all staining materials – I bought a couple of rollers with extensions, a mini roller, several paint pans, gloves, 2 large brushes and a small one, oh and the stain.
  7. Pick the right kind of stain – my big red deck wasn’t going to be covered with a semi-transparent stain, so I had to go with a solid.  Not what I would have picked, but I refused to sand down the whole deck.  I labored over the color – I picked a blue, grey. I figured since I couldn’t go natural, why try. It felt so permanent.  In the end, it was fine, beautiful actually.
  8. Get to work – the four of us stained for 4 hours straight…start at the top and work your way down…in case of spillage. Then my dad came over to finish the next day for a few hours.
  9. Let dry and touch up as needed.

That’s it.  A new and improved deck….that zen-like experience in my backyard oasis is complete.

Complete project

Happy gardening.

melissa

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