Updates on the house

Jeff and I have managed to make our house a home bit by bit as the last year has passed...but not without the help of our dads and Chad. We owe much of the end results to them, their hard work, and their willingness to appease my pickiness and attention to detail. ;) The biggest project yet has been the amazing deck they all helped us build in prepartation for the 4th of July. I wanted an outdoor space that would accomodate a large group of family and friends that would be coming to remember Mom on the first anniversary of her death this year. Jeff and I also wanted a space outside where we could comfortably entertain and hang with Lola. We've already taken advantage of the new space on many occasions and look forward to this weekend where many of our closest friends and family will join us for a bbq and fireworks in honor of Mom. As you'll see in the pictures, the back yard came equipped with a small concrete slab that didn't hold more that a few chairs and our grill. The transformation that took place is exactly what I had always pictured the space could become. It's functional and simple with a few special touches that set it apart from our neighbors' decks. Chad obliged and constructed a custom flower box that is set into the surface of the deck and Dad went to a lot of effort to wire the lights at both ends of the stairs and the spotlight on Mom's tree. It looks gorgeous at night. It took about 3 weekends worth of work in May to complete, but all their hard work paid off ten-fold. We are so grateful to have such talented men in our families that are happy to help us along the way. We put the fence in last fall after adopting Lola.

This is the only "before" picture we took as Chad was marking and cutting for our footings.
The boys with their dads. :)
The finished product! They executed my design perfectly!
The custom flower box with soaker hose built-in. I'll post pics of what it looks like now with our pretty flowers. :)
With our furniture from West Elm...man, that discount comes in handy. :)
The comfy chairs by Mom's tree.
And finally, a pic at night with the light on.

Did the boys do a good job, or what?!?!?! We're so proud of our fabulous deck! Thanks dads and Chaddy Ryan! The upcoming posts will show some other updates we've done to the house since we moved in in November of 2007.