All Decked Out

I love before and after makeovers especially when they are interior design based. When we moved into our house almost three years ago there was a rotting plywood deck hanging off the front of the house. The picture doesn’t do the rotting part justice. The deck was constructed of sub par materials; added to and fixed up on multiple occasions with a little TLC, rusty nails and duct tape. We lived with the deck as it was for the first year, but come spring the demo started. The demo took about 30 minutes.

The before pictures:

There is an apple tree that dictated the size of the deck. We love the apple tree and wanted to save it. Here is a picture during construction; the apple tree is the little tree espalied along the front of the deck.

During Construction:

The footprint of the deck didn’t change because of the apple tree, but it was constructed with materials designed to be on the exterior of a house. We lived with the deck as it was for the next year and the following year we built the garden beds. Finally this year we got around to “decorating” it into an outdoor living space. This project was three years in the making, and it’s finally done, at least for this season.

Here is the current state:

We are using the steps as a herb garden, and the best part is that we don’t need to put on shoes to grab a handful of herbs. Sasha is very into gardening, and is helping to take care of the plants. Logan on the other hand walks over to the garden every afternoon looking for bites. I am using the garden as an opportunity to teach him colours, fruits and veggies. If only I can stop him from eating green strawberries we might get some fruit.