Lighten Up!

We have a great screened-in porch and covered deck right off of our kitchen and living room. Actually, this was one of the selling features of the house that really appealed to us because Mark and I both love to spend time outdoors. As we toured the house for the first time, we immediately noticed the neglect that this screened-in porch had endured over the years. The ceiling was plywood...that's it. No paint, no nothing. Between that and the fact that the deck was graying badly and in desperate need of re-staining and sealing, I knew this was going to be project that we would have to tackle at some point....and why not wait until the hottest part of the summer (100 + heat indexes) to tackle it?!

We started with the screened-in area. I decided to paint the ceiling just a basic white because the trim on our siding was white. In addition to giving the ceiling a "finished" look (as opposed to the unfinished look of plywood boards), we also had the goal of brightening up the area. This deck is right off of our Living Room which has two large double windows that look right out onto the deck. Having this covered deck and screened-in porch is great, but it really blocks a lot of the natural sunlight from pouring into our Living Room so we wanted to help brighten up both the deck and the Living Room by using some lighter colors.

In order to add some interest to the basic white we decided to trim the ceiling in a warm brown color (Granite by Olympic Paint in Exterior Satin). We also decided to add some trim pieces to the ceiling itself in order try to "up" the architectural detail a bit. Since I was basically covered in paint and sweat the entire time we were doing this project -- Oh, and by covered I mean COVERED....I even had little white paint specks in my contacts....IN MY EYES y'all! -- I didn't really get to take any pictures of the process. But after 2 weekends and a random weekday night we were left with these results:

We're happy with the way it turned out....and we're definitely glad it's over....painting over your head is hard work y'all!!! Next up....restain and reseal the deck! We've already selected and purchased a semi-transparent Cedar Naturaltone shade made by Olympic....we just have to get started. Although I think we might take a break from the deck and "painting" projects and get started on a building project instead -- a Permanent Wooden Hammock Stand with Pergola Roof. We already have the hammock...it's a super comfy extra large Mayan Style woven hammock...and Mark has already drawn up the plans for it so now all we have to do is purchase the materials and get started building! Stay tuned for our progress on this project! ;)

xo,
The Indecisive Wife