One Deck of a Project

We've enjoyed our deck immensely--barbecuing, picnicking, sandbox-ing, pool-wading, coffee-drinking, and otherwise enjoying ourselves out there. But, we've neglected it. And so, we decided to fix the ol' girl up. Here's where we started:

Over the years it had turned either green or gray, as you can see.

First thing to do: clean it! This got rid of most of the green, but the deck still remained a dull unsealed gray.

Before we could seal it, we had to replace a few badly cracked posts -- three big posts (one pictured above), and six small balusters (the skinny ones).

New post in place (not yet screwed in). It was especially challenging getting the large posts to budge, but like loose teeth, they eventually came out.

Then we puttied up a bunch of cracks.

After the first coat, we had to go back and stain the wood puttied spots with a darker stain. The wood putty was "stainable", but it came out a bright orange, instead of the color of the wood. Then we applied a second coat.

For dramatic effect, once again, here's the "before":

And now, here's the "after":

Not too shabby, eh?