For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you probably saw that we FINALLY put the finishing touches on our brand new Trex deck this past weekend.
The actual deck was extremely easy to install. We finished that in record time — just in time to host a 4th of July party! However, we still needed to finish the stairs, put lattice up around the front and side of the deck base, do a little landscaping, spread mulch, and finish a few other odds and ends before I could share the official “after photos” here on the blog.
Just a note in our defense, we were gone on vacation for a week and it was really rainy the week before our vacation, so many of our outside projects were put on hold for about 2 weeks 🙂
Anyway… last weekend was THE weekend to finish our deck. Dave and I talked about what all needed to be done on Thursday, and he got right to work Friday morning painting the plywood “skirt” around the base of the deck (we painted it black) and then cleaning and installing the white lattice over the plywood.
On Saturday, I planted two Limelight Hydrangeas, spread mulch, and added a few annuals for a little color. Normally I like to plant groupings of 3 or 5, but we really wanted hydrangeas in front of the deck (which is a very sunny area). This particular variety can handle lots of sun but get quite large. Although they look small and awkward right now, after 2 more summers, they will completely fill that planting bed and stick up well above the deck floor! I think it will look awesome.
Once the deck and landscaping was 100% finished, we moved our grill up to the deck as well as some patio furniture we already had (I just couldn’t bite the bullet and buy new stuff since I’m still not sure what I want). Everything seems to fit nicely — and we really like how it looks and functions.
We like that the grill is now right outside our back door, we like having a picnic area on our deck, and I love the fact that the kids can play on the deck right outside the office doors.
However, I think my favorite part of the new deck is that we can now sit in our red adirondack chairs and easily see the entire playhouse and kiddy play area of our backyard. This means the kids can play while we relax from the deck!
Dave and I are thrilled with the results, and we’re SO grateful that Trex offered all their amazing deck materials at no cost to us (other than my time blogging). As I mentioned in a previous post, the larger deck was a project Dave had wanted to do since we first considered buying this house (almost 4 years ago). We were already hoping to tackle the deck project this summer — so when the people from Trex contacted me back in May, it just solidified the deal. Crazy how perfect that timing was!
We’ve been using and loving our new deck for almost a month now (just without the landscaping!) It’s the PERFECT place to eat, hang out, play with the kiddos, and just relax. Our deck is in the shade almost all day, and as you’ll see by the pictures below, it’s super private and nicely tucked into the back of our house.
But that’s enough chit-chat — let’s get to these pictures!
Our Deck: Before + After Pictures:
Here’s a view from the roof of our garage looking down on the deck area BEFORE.
And the same view from the roof after.
This is the deck area the day we moved in (December 2010)
Here’s the same view with the new deck, the new mudroom, and the new landscaping!
Here’s the view from our driveway (also the day we moved in).
And here’s a similar angle after (we still need to finish the landscaping in front of the white rails — so it looks a little messy right now).
Here’s a before picture, standing on the deck looking towards the back entryway (now the new mudroom).
And here’s the after picture of the same view — it’s AMAZING how much more privacy we have on our deck now that the mudroom blocks one side!
So… what do you think?
Hopefully it was worth the 7 weeks I made you wait to see the after photos!
Dave and I just can’t get over how much more we’re using our deck now that it’s actually big enough to hang out on. It has literally given us 200 additional square feet of living space (at lease for 3 seasons of the year!)
Disclosure: as I noted in the post, we received free products from Trex in exchange for this blog post; however, all opinions are my own!
Find Trex on the Web:
Website: www.trex.com
Facebook: Trex Company
Twitter: @Trex_Company
Pinterest: Trex
YouTube: TheTrexCo
Linda says
Hi, Andrea. Now that you’ve lived with your deck for a while, have you found it to be slippery when it gets wet? We have a second floor deck we would like to expand and make maintenance free. We actually thought we were getting a Trex deck when we built our house, but the builder put on traditional wood. They refused to correct the mistake after it was built and gave us $1000 for the mistake. But after nine years, I still wish we would have gotten the Trex and now it’s time to rebuild it for a lot of reasons.
Andrea says
I guess I’ve never thought about it before — which probably means that it’s not slippery 🙂 I personally don’t remember ever slipping on it or having issues with the kids slipping on it.
Of course, it’s covered under a foot of snow right now (otherwise maybe I’d go test it out for you!)
Kim says
Looks wonderful. I live how clean it looks and I’m jealous it will be easy to clean and you don’t have to stain it constantly. Only recommendation is to move your grill away from siding. Used to work for insurance company, every year we used to have at least one or two houses catch on fire during a cook out…. Not to mention it can mess up your siding even if house doesn’t go up in flames and that would not be good next to the new pretty deck. ENJOY that beautiful deck!!!!
Stacey says
I’m curious and can’t remember if you did a post on it but what did you put down for the play area for the kids? We are trying to overhaul ours and debating how to do it.
Thanks!
Andrea says
We used “playground mulch” it was the same price as regular mulch but it’s apparently a little bit softer and it doesn’t break down nearly as quickly so you won’t need to replace it very often. I’m not sure I buy the “softer” part but it definitely doesn’t break down!
Beatriz says
It looks great! Congrats!
marni says
I’m in love with your house..
Heather @ My Overflowing Cup says
It looks wonderful! Thanks so much for the info on the product you used as we need to do the same for our porch.
Debbie says
You did an amazing job! Your improvements look fantastic. I wish I had an eye for improvements, decorating, etc. I think you are very talented and am glad you are sharing your changes with us. Although I am inspired, I do not know where to begin with our house. Let alone this has been the year where everything has been breaking on us and has had to be replaced: our dryer, sump pump, ejector pump, water heater, garage door, and gas grill to name a few. And our huge, beautiful Ash tree was split in half by a major storm and had to be cut down by a tree service. I hope one day we are as happy with our home improvements as you are with yours!
Andrea says
Thanks so much Debbie! I can’t decorate anyone else’s home unless they have the exact same style as me — but I really enjoy decorating my own home!
And wow! Sounds like you have had quite the year with all those fixes needed! Such a bummer about the tree too. We had a cut down a huge tree in front of our house because half of it was totally dead. It was very sad 🙁
Linda says
Andrea, I love it! It looks like it was always that way. Can’t wait until the mud room is complete and you share pictures.
Andrea says
Thanks Linda — hopefully the mudroom post will be in less then 2 weeks. We’re just waiting on ONE thing to arrive to finish off the room!
Jen T says
It looks fabulous!
Little PSA…make sure you pull the grill away from the house when you use it…lest you end up with melted siding. Ask me how I know, lol.
Andrea says
yes — Dave was totally on top of that one 🙂
Heidi says
Awesome job! Your hard work paid off! I love how ‘alive’ and vibrant it looks now.
Paulette Smith says
Oh, I love it!! Your renovations fit so well, it’s as if the outside was always built this way!
Harmony says
Did you guys have to get a permit to do the deck (and for that matter, the mudroom) where you live? I know it varies from state to state and even at the county and city level, but if you guys had to do that, I’d love to hear about that process.
Andrea says
In our city/town, it’s very easy to get permits. It’s a small town so we just walked to City Hall, told them what we were doing, wrote a check, and we were good to go. We did the same thing last year when we built our fence.
Harmony says
Thanks! It’s probably similar where I live, but our city’s website is really outdated and hard to navigate. Calling is not much easier. I still have some time, but I figured I’d ask what your experience was like. Thanks for answering!
Debbie says
It looks great! The deck looks so fresh and I like how you widened the steps too.
Leanne says
LOVE! I think your picnic table is my favorite!
Andrea says
Thanks — we love the table (and it was free!). I got it 2 years ago and we just sanded it down and repainted it 🙂
Melissa says
Love it! We just expanded our deck as well with composite decking which is AWESOME! we went from 10×10 to 10×24 and it is fantastic.
http://jibberblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/deck-expansion.html
Andrea says
Melissa, your new deck looks amazing! So much more space — and I love how it’s nice and high off the ground too! Hopefully we’ll both be enjoying our new decks for many years to come!
Debby says
Looks wonderful Andrea!! You should be proud. It’s stunning
Pamela says
Beautiful! My favorite part is that you can see the kids’ play area from the deck chairs. I have 3 littles — so I think about those things! 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks Pamela — and yes, we love that we can see the play area. We couldn’t before when our deck was so small — so this is just another added bonus of the new deck!
Melissa D, says
It turned out just perfect! Could you speak to how it was to work with that kind of decking material? The actual building of it I mean? What a perfect space for your family! Love your red chairs too…wood or resin?
Andrea says
Thanks Melissa!
Here’s the blog post where I talk about the building process. In my opinion, the Trex product was even easier to work with than real wood!