Hi friends! So over a year & a half ago I announced we were getting a deck in our pool area off the top of my office overlooking the pool. Well, it sat undone for most of 2021 & half of 2022 due to supply & other hangups we ran into. Well, it’s done! Most of it at least. & I’ll take it!! It seems we hit a big block on projects in 2019 when we became parents & since then it’s been one thing after another from the world shutting down, to not being able to find workers, to supply chain issues. It’s always something so our house & farm are very much unfinished, but I have a feeling that this [almost] finished project right here is going to set things off in the right direction… We can hope right! Over this year there has been a lot of questions as we went & did updates here and there so I thought I would compile the questions & answers here on the blog. Feel free to as more on socials & I can add them here as we go! I hope this helps with your future deck projects & of course I hope it inspires you as well!
What material is the decking?
The deck material is from Trex [we got ours locally sources from West Michigan Lumber for all my local friends], but you can go [HERE] to find your local Trex dealer & you can also order samples through the website as well which is SUPER helpful & I highly recommend seeing the colors in person next to your home & in different light. Trex is a high performance decking that looks like wood without all of the maintenance & everything else that comes along with using lumber.
Why Trex & not lumber?
As we do projects here on the farm, many of them we want to be permeant. We do not want to have to re-do them or have them be high maintenance because quite frankly we do not have the time. Jose and I always say that we will invest in convenience & something that is more low maintenance & that’s what this was. Trex is a composite deck board that won’t rot, warp, or splinter which is just scratching the surface of why we chose them. It’s made in the USA from 95% recycled plastic & reclaimed sawdust which I thought was so interesting! It looks like wood which is so confusing to me, but so amazing. I’m thankful for very smart & creative people who created this product for those of us who aesthetics matter to us, but we don’t want to add to our workload. I love that the color won’t fade, I won’t have to repaint/stain yearly, It will look the same for years to come & I will be able to sit in the pool more instead of maintaining the deck from summer to summer. I know you guys get it!! You can see more about Trex vs. wood deck boards [HERE] to see if it’s the right fit for you and your project.
What size is the deck?
The deck is a 10×12 foot deck which we thought was a great size to not impede too much on the pool area, but it offers a great area above & below the deck that is useful for a lot of things.
What color is the Trex decking?
For the deck boards as well as the hand rail & rail caps, we chose Trex in Rope Swing which you can see [HERE].The spindles we chose to do a while, but on that note Trex does offer many different customizations for decking from the railings & deck board color combo & beyond which you can see [HERE]. I also just saw on their website that you can design your deck with their visualizer tool [HERE] which is pretty cool!
What is through that door on the deck?
Up on top of the deck is a door into our studio. I need to take you guys out there to see more of it & what we have done up there lately. Fun fact: that’s not the final door that will be there. I was a temporary door as many doors are in this area & more on our farm while we wait for our ordered doors to come in. I’m telling you, it’s been a waiting game, but thankful this one looks good in the mean time!
What will you put on the deck?
That’s a great question. Right now I really want a couple of chairs or rockers so we can sit up here to watch the sunset, take phone calls, read, & just enjoy the space all while not putting too much up here to crowd the space. We did put a sofa up here right when it was finished, but I felt like it was too much & I’m glad we tried it so we know now! I’ll keep you posted on what we do up here. For now, she’s pretty on her own!
Does everything get wet under the deck?
THIS IS THE BEST PART. Sorry I got excited there, but it truly is my favorite part of this deck besides that amazing color & the low maintenance part of course. We opted to get Trex RainEscape which is a system of gutters & troughs to divert water away from the deck. So everything below the deck stays dry, is shaded, & truly feels like another room safe from the weather. This is another way you can customize your deck with lighting, fans, & different colors of the under decking rainEscape. You can read more about the Trex rainEscape [HERE] as they are far better at explaining it than me & seeing what they do with it is beautiful!
What will you use the area under the deck for?
This is a great question! Speaking of upcoming projects, we are taking those two old windows out on the sides of the deck [now looking super off center thanks to the deck] & we will be putting a French door centered under the deck which will lead into our pool house [a converted garage stall] that will hold a kitchen & a bathroom for us & guests. Stay tuned for all of this to come!
Is the deck all finished?
Actually we need to do a few more things like deciding what kind of gutter we want coming out of the left hand side of the top of the deck. For now it works great without it, but to finish it off we will add that. I also need to decide on a piece of trim, but I’m waiting for the new door for that too. Of course we also have the projects listed in the previous question to do as well which will make the deck area look very different, but as far as the deck it’s looking amazing! I will udpate when we get that all finished as well.
I hope this answered a lot of your questions about our deck & gave you some inspiration for your future deck projects. Head to my Instagram to see more about the deck & get some videos of the project as well. Thank you for stopping by the blog today & every single day to see what we are up to! xx
