Deck Update #6 - The Homestretch (plus sneak peek of the garden)

The deck is sooooo close to being finished!  We got the remainder of the railings up this past weekend and my "fancy steps" are about 3/4 of the way done.  I am lucky my dad loves a challenge because the wraparound/cascading steps are proving to be quite the design challenge.  There are a lot of geometry calculations and 3-dimensional thinking involved.  They are coming along great though!

Fancy steps being laid out for concrete landing pad.

Some custom stringers and Dad admiring his handy work.

First step is complete!

All of the railings are done!

Some temporary furniture.

Back view.

We also scored this sweet outdoor dining set from craigslist for half the price that it's going for at Target!  I'm so happy with it!  Now I just need to find a reasonable "conversation set" for the lower level.  We might just want until the end of the season to get something on clearance if I don't see anything on craigslist that I really like.

 

And finally some pictures of the veggie garden!  Greg assembled the boxes and built the fence about a month ago and we just planted our first crops: broccoli, potatoes and carrots (for Peter, of course).  This weekend we are going to plant peppers, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, eggplant, basil and citronella.  Greg is the champion of our garden... I can't even keep our houseplant alive.  I'm very excited to reap the benefits of his hard work though... There's nothing better than a fresh Jersey tomato straight off the vine!

Just need to finish painting and put the fancy tops of the last few posts.

French door gate!

Lots of room for veggies!

My lone contribution to the garden... painted rock identifiers.  :)

And... Greg and Dad finally got the riding mower working.  No more push mowing for Greg!!