Our Deck Makeover

Our deck got a lovely makeover!

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know this because I put up like 3 pictures of the process. When we first bought our house, we loved the yard and the big deck. Since then, both of our neighbors have put up fences (that I cannot stand), but we still love our big backyard and that a house isn't directly behind us. Billy stained the deck last year, but the previous owners never treated it before, so it still needed more work.

Insert our good friend Mike.

Mike loves to do house projects and was determined to not only stain our deck for us, but change the look of it and finish it for us while we were at work. Amazing, I know. Mike gave us the idea to paint the railings white and leave the bottom a cedar stain. Billy ended up taking some time off work to help Mike finish the deck, but Mike did a lot of it himself. We were so incredibly thankful! We absolutely love how it turned out...the white railing actually make the deck look even bigger and makes it POP! ;) We can't wait for all the cookouts we will be having this summer. Our first one was this past weekend and we finished it off with s'mores, reesee s'mores to be exact (my fav, duh!), in our fire pit. (Name this movie:"How can I have more if I haven't had anything yet?")

I decorated the deck with coral lanterns, bright colored chairs, and bright seat cushions, all of which are from Target. Love that store. All of the seating we have is perfect for entertaining a big group of people!

Here is a  "before" picture, and of course all the wonderful "after" pictures.

Obviously all of the deck was brown, and we had our table and chairs in this corner area.

We decided to rearrange the deck differently this time, and I think it opens the space up a little more.

Some of our first cookout guests...

Billy roasting his s'mores to perfection...he makes the BEST ones (because he's so patient-me? Not so much.)

...it's quite the process, I tell ya.

and here are the boys right when they finished the deck

admiring the final product...ha.

What do you think?!

Have you given your deck a little makeover?

How do you decorate to entertain your friends and family?