Under Construction Part 3: It's Finished!

Last entry about the deck. We took a small break in between the time that the wood was all done and the days when the finishing touches came into place. We were told to let everything settle for a bit and let the wood dry out a little before staining it, which we did. The staining was completed on the 8th of May, but the last photos were taken a few days later, since it started raining the day after the staining was done, and I wasn't able to get a great picture until then. Now that it's all done, we definitely spend more time outside there than we did when it was just plain cement. I love how it turned out and am always looking for excuses to go outside!

Day 8: helping Daddy set up a plastic
barrier between the grass and the deck

Bringing some dirt over to fill up
the hole

The plastic barrier in place

Putting down weather-resistant
textile to keep the grass from growing
through

Stone chips in place!

Day 9: Staining the deck! Just the first
coat, but you can already see a big
contrast between the untreated
wood and the treated boards.

Continuing with the stain

Picture of water beading on the wood the next day.
Guess the stain is doing what it should!

All finished!

Side view

So shiny, it even shows the light reflecting off the window!

Under Construction Part 2

At the end of the last post, we were at Day 4, and Carlos had finished most of the planks. Here's the continuation of his work. One more entry about the deck to come after this.

Day 5: all the planks in place. The edging and the staining
are all that is left.

Angle view of the planks.

Getting closer to being done!

Day 6. Putting the edging around the
deck. It's a (sustainable) hardwood,
and I love the darker colour next to the
paler pine.

Close up of a finished corner.

Unfinished corner, for comparison.

Day 7. The same corner, finished.

All the woodwork is done!

Doesn't it look great? Only the staining
left before it's completely finished!

Under Construction Part 1

Here's the first blog entry about the deck. Description of what is going on in each photo is in the captions.

Making sure we have enough supplies
before we start. Aimy helped.

Day 1 : Making sure everything lines up.
Measure twice, drill once! Note the
pieces of plastic underneath the beam to
prevent the wood from directly touching
the ground. This should help prevent
water damage.

The support beams coming into place

Day 2: the workspace. Finished drilling the support beams

Putting the first pine planks into place.

Screwing in the planks. Having 2 drills
made this go a lot faster - one to drill
one for the screws. Merci, Philippe!

The system to screw in the boards without drilling directly
through the wood. Pieces of plastic shaped like Ts with a
hole in the top. The horizontal part of the T fits in the gap
running along the edge of the boards. Makes for a neater-
looking deck. They were expensive though, so we only used
them right in front of the sliding glass door.

Day 3: Row 3 of the boards being put into place.

Looking good!

Day 4: Progressing well.

End of the day on Day 4. All of the initally-drilled beams
covered by the pine planks.

Side view of the deck.

Stay tuned - Part 2 coming soon!

Easter

We were here at home for Easter, but since we had decided to go visit Carlos's family the weekend before, my sister-in-law and mother-in-law decided to set up an egg hunt for the kids then. Samantha and Maxime are both old enough to not believe in the Easter Bunny (though interestingly enough, here in France it is the church bells that bring chocolate, not a bunny. I'm not sure which one is more amusing). The kids had a great time. Aimy was a bit shy about it at first, but by the end she was grabbing chocolate eggs and bunnies as readily as her cousins, who were kind enough to put back some of their chocolate so that she could have lots of things to find.

Hope you enjoy the photos!

Curious about the camera

Waiting for it to be egg-hunting time

Laughing

Finding her first goodie!

Really getting into it now.

Maxime

"More over here?"

Enjoying the spoils

Samantha

"Look! Chokkit bunny!"

Drawing the next day.