• Home
  • About Me
  • Our Home
    • Master
      • Shiplap Shelf
      • How to keep your white sheets white
      • How to upcycle old sweaters into Christmas stockings
      • Dimming the light that shines in the night
      • Master bedroom night stands
      • Our Master “Pinterest” bedroom……
      • Shiplap wall for less than $50
    • Mancave
      • How to build a sliding barn door
      • The Dog’s House
      • A Shiplap Ceiling
      • Painting a Faux Brick Wall
      • Upcycle old frames….I’ll show you how!
      • A bi-fold door in disguise……….
      • A place to call his own……..kind of!
      • how i made industrial lights for the bar
    • Front Porch
      • Hydrangeas are in the air
      • Red, White and Gray-It’s almost Independence Day!
      • Say Hello
      • Holiday Home Tour (Part 1)
    • Kitchen
      • Upholstery 101
      • Harvest Table – Part one
      • Harvest Table – Part Two
      • Holiday Home Tour (Part 2)
      • How to organize a mini office space in your pantry
      • New Bling {Cabinet Hardware} for the Kitchen
      • Transform your dining room table
      • Trays, not just for carrying your lunch in grade school anymore!
    • Living Room
      • Designing a fireplace makeover
    • Garage
      • Got Paint?
  • DIY Projects
    • Painting/Crafts
      • DIY Poster Sized Word Art
      • Fresh Cut Tree Sign
      • Farmers Market….
    • Simple Sewing
      • Add your favorite recipe to a tea towel
      • How to upcycle old sweaters into Christmas stockings
      • Vintage Stockings for $3 or less
      • Upholstery 101
    • Trash to Treasure
      • How to paint on old screens
      • New life for an old brass fixture
    • Miscellaneous
      • How to keep your white sheets white
      • New Bling {Cabinet Hardware} for the Kitchen
    • Electircal
      • how i made industrial lights for the bar
    • Woodworking
      • How to build a sliding barn door
  • Contact Me
    • Disclosures
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Lyndale Drive

07/18/17

Expanding the deck

I am super excited to tell you about our latest project.  Well, Mike’s project.  We love to be outside [check out our fire pit area], problem is our 12×12 deck is too SMALL.  It sounds like a nice size until add a table, 4 chairs and a grill!  Invite a couple of friends and forget it, it’s useless!!

old-deck

Call me a bad blogger, because I didn’t take a “before” photo.  After all, it was so small and useless, why bother!  I took this “in progress” photo and added a few notes…..I think you’ll get the idea!

We had built a small patio using concrete pavers at the bottom of the steps to create a space for our grill!  I came up with a fun pattern for the pavers using two different sizes and filled in the gaps with small pea gravel.  The design idea was good, until you realize that your OCD husband can’t handle little rocks getting scattered about by grand kids and dogs!
expanding-the-deckAnother bad blogger moment – no pic of the cute little concrete patio pavers…….whomp, whomp, whomp.

Time for a new plan.  Our first thought was concrete.  Pour a concrete patio and be done with the little rocks and pavers.  We also have a MAJOR structure issue that has hampered our design ideas.  It’s a giant basement egress window well!!  I mean,  it’s an important part of the house, however it is preventing us from building an awesome outdoor space!  If we pour concrete we could simply pour around it, right?  Probably, but I couldn’t justify the cost of concrete for a small 12×12 patio.

With concrete being so expensive we thought let’s, build a lower wooden platform deck.  Again, building around the window well, we will figure out how to cover it later, right?

Sorry, this post is lengthy, but I’m feeling like you need to know all of the issues we had with this design idea!  So remember when I said the 12×12 deck seemed big, but ended up being too small?  Ya, well now we are planning on building another 12×12 lower deck.  For what?  The grill?  (and to keep Mike from having a heart attack over the rocks).  So now, instead of having one useless 12×12 deck, we will have TWO!  Great idea………….not!
Deck-joistsIt hit me like a ton of bricks, why not build an addition on to the existing deck?  Making it a 12×24 platform and all the same height!  BRILLIANT don’t you think?  But what about that darn window well?  It will be RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of our new deck!
deck-boardsbasement-windowWe first checked with the city and confirmed that the building code would allow us to build over it, however we need to keep a 2×3 opening and provide a ladder to exit.  They don’t require it to be covered……….funny……it is a big drop.  Again, we will figure out a way to cover it later!  We had some ideas that would still comply with building codes (I will tell you about those later).
For now, check out this amazing space Mike created for us to enjoy!
Expanded Decknew-deckIt has been so hot here in Iowa that we really haven’t been able to enjoy our new space but we soon will!!  Next up on this deck addition is new furniture (building plans are in the works), a very important cover for the window well opening, and a new light fixture.  Stay tuned!!

P.S. I have to throw out a huge thank you to Ryobi tools for providing us with the awesome battery operated tools we  used to build this bad boy……and that hunky carpenter in the pics……our boy Garrett!
Signature LD

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

6 Comments
DIY

« Making your bed
Collecting Ironstone »

Comments

  1. Daarlene Rose says

    July 18, 2017 at 6:39 pm

    Jodi, I like it. You and Mike come up with awesome ideas. I’m ready to enjoy a beer sitting on your new addition. Hugs

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      July 18, 2017 at 9:01 pm

      Next on the list of things to do is build some patio furniture. Once we have that built and some cooler evenings – come on over! The cooler will be stocked!

      Reply
  2. Tabby says

    July 18, 2017 at 11:43 pm

    Whomp. Whomp. Whomp. Is right. My brain needs before pics. But the sketch was delightful. 🙂

    Reply
    • Jodi says

      July 21, 2017 at 7:29 pm

      I know right!!! I need to get better at this blogger – photographer thing!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Help me choose new lighting for the deck - Lyndale Drive says:
    September 6, 2017 at 9:32 pm

    […] our deck expansion complete I am excited to get started on the remaining deck projects that need attention, including […]

    Reply
  2. Happy New House! - Lyndale Drive says:
    January 6, 2018 at 10:12 am

    […] We added on to the deck (check it out [here]) […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hello! I’m Jodi

I'm glad you're here! This is where I make my dreams of DIY projects, home renovations and crafty ideas become reality. {I am serious - I dream of these things} I hope you decide to stick around, and follow along as my husband Mike and I make these dreams a reality.

Never Miss Another Post

If you love what you see now and don't want to miss another post....Join Me! I promise I won't flood your email with junk, only a friendly reminder that I published a new post!

Categories

Archives

how-to-paint-faux-brick-concrete-walls
painting-your-garage-door-black
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Our Home
    • Master
      • Shiplap Shelf
      • How to keep your white sheets white
      • How to upcycle old sweaters into Christmas stockings
      • Dimming the light that shines in the night
      • Master bedroom night stands
      • Our Master “Pinterest” bedroom……
      • Shiplap wall for less than $50
    • Mancave
      • How to build a sliding barn door
      • The Dog’s House
      • A Shiplap Ceiling
      • Painting a Faux Brick Wall
      • Upcycle old frames….I’ll show you how!
      • A bi-fold door in disguise……….
      • A place to call his own……..kind of!
      • how i made industrial lights for the bar
    • Front Porch
      • Hydrangeas are in the air
      • Red, White and Gray-It’s almost Independence Day!
      • Say Hello
      • Holiday Home Tour (Part 1)
    • Kitchen
      • Upholstery 101
      • Harvest Table – Part one
      • Harvest Table – Part Two
      • Holiday Home Tour (Part 2)
      • How to organize a mini office space in your pantry
      • New Bling {Cabinet Hardware} for the Kitchen
      • Transform your dining room table
      • Trays, not just for carrying your lunch in grade school anymore!
    • Living Room
      • Designing a fireplace makeover
    • Garage
      • Got Paint?
  • DIY Projects
    • Painting/Crafts
      • DIY Poster Sized Word Art
      • Fresh Cut Tree Sign
      • Farmers Market….
    • Simple Sewing
      • Add your favorite recipe to a tea towel
      • How to upcycle old sweaters into Christmas stockings
      • Vintage Stockings for $3 or less
      • Upholstery 101
    • Trash to Treasure
      • How to paint on old screens
      • New life for an old brass fixture
    • Miscellaneous
      • How to keep your white sheets white
      • New Bling {Cabinet Hardware} for the Kitchen
    • Electircal
      • how i made industrial lights for the bar
    • Woodworking
      • How to build a sliding barn door
  • Contact Me
    • Disclosures

Copyright © 2022 · Dainty theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2022 · Dainty Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.