Pressing On: Porch

My deck is looking good! Just in time for our winter snow.

Our front deck was in desperate need of some sort of stain to protect it from the elements. Besides needing protection from our weather, my kiddos feet needed some protection from the slivers they were getting from the wood.

I chose to use DECK RESTORE™ to change the look and feel of the deck. I bought it at Lowes and I needed the 5 gal to do my deck of about 120 ft.

I ordered the color of Pewter, but the moron at the paint desk at Lowes that day incorrectly mixed the color and I actually have Granite. I'm super sad about that, but unless I want to go to the trouble of repainting, I'm stuck.

To prepare the deck, I bleached and pressure washed it. I also sanded down some super rough areas.

DECK RESTORE™ has the texture of a thin grout. Honestly, the whole process is like painting with grout, which makes it very labor intensive.

I bought the kit that you need to use to get the rough texture finish

I found the best way to put it on was to paint it on thick with a paintbrush and then go over it with the textured roller

I went over some of the gaps with a screwdriver to get out big lumps.

To say that this is a messy process would be an understatement. It is REALLY messy. And REALLY hard. I was sore for days afterward. I've stained many decks in my day, and I've even grouted tile. This was harder than any of those. I'm thankful my deck is small.

I had it in my hair, and on every available surface. The textured roller really spins the paint everywhere (check out my hand and feet!!!)

And the walls!

This is where the grout type texture comes in handy. It didn't stain the vinyl siding at all. Some water, a wire brush and muscle were all it took to take it all off the walls (and my hands, haha)

If I had to do it all over again, I would still use it on this deck. The texture feels good and the slivers are non-existent.

What I would do different is to use a browner toned color so that the gaps in the deck would be hidden.

I would also make sure the paint desk mixed the right color. I had to repaint my beloved black door silver to save the look of my house.

I love how my front porch looks now.

I got a new welcome mat on clearance. It's made of recycled materials.

The wreath is one I bought last year, but I added the sweet stone harvest hanger from JoAnns. I love it's message.

You might recognize 3 of my rainbow of chairs out here

I was not compensated in any way for this project. I just haven't seen it honestly reviewed anywhere. If you decide to tackle something like this yourself, be prepared to work really hard...or maybe just rope your husband into doing it.