We've Expanded!

No, it's not what you're thinking. Amanda is not pregnant.

We've added to the house again. When we bought the place, we borrowed a little extra to make improvements. One of the things we wanted to be sure we did was re-do the back patio and build a deck. The space really wasn't usable, so we wanted to enhance and expand it.

This is what it looked like.

We enlisted the help of Brad's high school history teacher and his high school basketball coach. The timing was such that they built the entire thing while we were away on vacation, which made us a bit nervous, but they did a wonderful job. The deck ended up being a lot bigger than we pictured -315 square feet to be exact.

I had to do a lot of digging, to prep the site, but I should mention a big 'Thank You' to Aaron and my dad for finishing up some un-forseen digging while we were gone.

The following is a series of before and after shots.

From the side yard looking back. I hated mowing this area.

It was always muddy when it rained.

Not anymore.

It's wide and covered with wood now.

The old seating area wasn't level anymore. And the patio was angled, limiting the sqare footage.
Do I sound like one of those HGTV people?

This is a view from the neighbor's yard. It's very spacious now.

Here is where the old patio led down to the yard.

This is the new lower level, where previously it was hard to grow grass close to the house.

Not a problem anymore! And now we have two seating areas.

In the top left corner you can see our tiki torches.

I can't wait to put them out. I can barely contain my excitement.

Again - before...

...and after.

Don't mind the mess in front. Landscaping is next on my list.

From the other side.

I really like the long steps.

Sorry if this was a boring post. We're excited about our deck.

Does that make us weird?