My Handyman

When I married Brett, I knew that he had a lot of talents. He is smart, funny, happy, etc. I could go on and on. One thing I underestimated him on was his handyman abilities. Maybe its because he's a city boy, but I continue to be pleasantly surprised at what he teaches himself to do. As home-owners, we've had lots of DIY projects that we've taken on. Brett has jumped at each one with a can-do attitude and the excitement to research and learn how to perform each task, increasing his skill set. 

One of the biggest projects he's taken on is our back deck. We live in an area where the grass is less than friendly, but when its cool enough, I love being outside. When we moved into our house, I quickly fell in love with our large back deck, but it was a bit of an eye sore. It was built by the previous owners and is obviously an amateur job. Nonetheless, we've enjoyed having it for sure, eating many meals in the cooler months here in south Texas. 

The deck when we moved in

We had this canopy for our table that came with the deck
but was twice-destroyed by wind and rain, so we tore it down.

We decided it was time to re-stain the deck and when we got looking, Brett decided it needed a bit more TLC to look good and be safer for Kayla to play on. Many of the boards were broken and a few were sticking up a little. We replaced a lot of the boards and a handful of the railing slats. Brett did a great job! He worked hard and fast too. We were really grateful for all the awesome tools my dad gave to Brett for Christmas a few years ago. We had everything we needed to get the job done. We had the Elders come over to help one day, which was fun and definitely helped the project along. Even Iosepa wanted to get in on the 'man's work'. :)

A 'before' shot of the deck. It was really weather worn along with the many bad boards.

The Elders got a head start on the staining process.

Kayla and Iosepa wanted to be in on the action.

This entire side of railing was bad so Brett replaced the whole thing.

The men eating their much-deserved pizza. 

After the Elders left, we still had a lot of staining to do. Brett insisted on doing most of it and I really appreciated how hard he worked. It was still really hot so I stayed in with Kayla while he worked away at staining for a few more days. He had also found more boards that needed replaced, so Brett ended up doing a lot of the work on his own. One of my favorite things about Brett has always been his assertiveness. If he has a list of things to do, he gets it done first thing, rather than procrastinating. He wasted no time with this big project of ours. 

The after shot showing the new boards and one side of the
railing with the new stain. 

The edge with the steps needed a lot of work. 

The beautiful new stain!

We got a new umbrella for our table with
solar lights. Its been great for eating outside now
that its cool enough.

Kayla loves being able to play on the improved and safe deck!

We love having this beautiful deck to enjoy but more importantly, we love having a dad and husband like Brett who is such a handyman and takes good care of us.