Friday, June 13, 2014

Starting to Wrap Up the Courtyard Build - most of the decking is down, and another 3,000 pounds of gravel


Since my last update, I am nearly complete with building decking around the base of Maynard, and I have most of the rest of the decking attached, although I don't have all the screws in.  Some boards are changing shape as they dry out (no, I didn't let all the treated lumber dry completely after purchase).

I also hauled in a couple loads of gravel and then small river rocks.  Another 3.,000 pounds shoveled, wheel-barrowed, dumped, and raked out.  I also placed some slate for a walking path.





And you'll notice that I've added some outdoor furniture and decorations. We've got sort of a 1970s vibe going.  The Homecrest chairs you may recall from a post I made a couple summers ago - I scooped those all up at a local estate sale. 






The ball is a cool thing SWMBO found and gave to me.  Over the winter it was painted red, but the silver gives it better contrast against the redwood fencing, and the idea to bend a pole to hang it came from photos I've seen of similar indoor lamps prevalent in the 1970s.


I had the window-frame mirror already, just changed the frame color to white and hung it on the fence.


This metal art is something I acquired off ebay a few years ago and  tried using inside, but since it's aluminum, it should hold up well outdoors, and I like the way it dresses up the fence.

Still on the punch list, I need to trim some decking, fix some saggy boards, and tighten a lot of screws.  I plan to stain the deck over the next few weeks, and if you look around the edges, you can see I have a lot of tidying up yet to do.

10 comments:

  1. Sweet! I can taste the mohitos in the tiki glasses! Nice work!

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  2. Looks great! I just had a bunch of rock hauled in for my little backyard area, but I paid someone to do the wheelbarrow and rake work. I'm a lot lazier than I was 30 years ago. haha

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    1. Thanks Dana, my back tells me I should hire out more work too

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  3. Great space! Love the tiki god :)

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  4. This deck is fabulous. That tiki sculpture is such a great use of that tree and just looks great. I think you were far better off going with a wooden fence instead of a brick one. Brick can be difficult to maintain over the years like that.

    As a note, I have your blog on my blog's "reading list" - not sure if you've checked ours out, but we chronicle a lot of cool stuff in the renovation of our MCM house too.

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    1. Thanks Douglas, I will check out your blog too.

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  5. Oh lord...sorry I've been so remiss in my commenting...but I guess you know what I've been up to! I have to say that your courtyard rehab looks simply spectacular - I can just picture myself drinking a tiki drink right alongside your tiki carving! And, you are hired when we decide to do yard work at the ranch! :)

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    1. Thanks Sara, I know you have been busy. I hope to get back to more regular blogging now that this little project is nearly wrapped up. BTW, I'm expecting to make a business trip to Phoenix in early January, maybe we can finally meet up.

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