First Of

Our junky (hey this is a family friendly site) deck prior to Mark powerwashing it. It was really really dirty and moldy.

Note the change in colour. The railing is darker but only because it was wet, when it dried it was the colour of...well, light-colored wood.

Isn't it grand?

Ta-dah! A little more red than we thought but all in all not too bad. We figured there wasn't a way that we could possibly make it worse. It should hold us until we get a new deck in 12.5 years.

I am always too lazy to do before and after shots so consider yerselves lucky. I barely caught Mad Mark at it again. He powerwashed the deck for 2 days and then we waited a couple of weeks until it was dry enough to stain and seal it. The deck had never been sealed or stained so it is quite damaged. Since a new deck is not an option, we went for a quick 60 dollar fix. In fact. just today Lucy came in with a splinter the size of a beam. However from a distance, if you squint your eyes just so, the deck looks pretty good. We stained it on a seemingly nice day only to have it rain. Most of it was okay though because it gives us warm fuzzies when we look out after we have watered our dying plants to see beads of water forming on the deck instead of disappearing.
*Side-note-Yes, we bought a topsy-turvy. How could we resist the commercial. Hey Pilates worked and I really enjoyed my hairagami back in the day so we decided maybe the topsy-turvy does work. So far we are not impressed but maybe when it gets warmer the thing will really take off. If it doesn't, at least we aren't that shlub down the street that has THREE hanging on his FRONT porch where everyone can see his silly splurge.
**Side-note #2 Our neighbors, no matter how scary their "organic" garden may seem, are actually very nice people and we like them.