Outdoor living

The service put our dock back in place a couple weeks ago. On Thursday night, the always happy Doug from Morris County Marine returned our boat and we got the first just-past-sunrise ride of the 2009 season. When we got the pontoon boat in 2004, it was like getting a floating living room.

After months—perhaps years—of searching, Matt located the objects of our deck desire using the Google images search. The outdoor pieces (a sofa, two chairs and two tables) by Max Furniture arrived on Friday. After putting it all in place, we did what any normal couple in the middle of a home renovation would do: Went downstairs to grout the tile on the shower floor and bench.

We made up for it this morning, starting the day with an after sunrise soak in the cedar hot tub and having breakfast on the deck. (Featuring herring and Gouda cheese.)

Then off to see the Mets win at their new field. (Thanks, Frank and Diana!)

We tried to end the day on the deck, but the mosquitoes chased us back indoors after a full day of fun in the sun. Tomorrow? Back to working on the house.

Friday night

Matt takes a break from spring clean-up in the back yard on April 3 to capture the lake view between rainstorms and before sunset.

Screen porch takes shape

My mom has a screen porch, providing that marvelous mix of fresh air and protection. The space just outside of the dining room was where our new porch was to go.

And so this screen porch has evolved, devolved and revolved. As a key feature of the Casa, we wanted to get it just right.

The first iteration of the screen porch hid too much of the view. The team installed two overly thick front posts equidistant from the corners of the outdoor room, which meant they misaligned with the railing. Their second try didn’t quite work, either. So we told Steve Wasko before winter hit that the posts had to go. We’re doing the work ourselves to save on ”redo” costs.

On Sunday, March 8, we began to tear down the posts. Although they were not structurally necessary, they were well-built. So many nails! And screws!

Later that day, we went to 84 Lumber to purchase Fypon cellular PVC bead board for the ceiling of the porch and had it delivered on March 9.

Our “it should only take one day” project continued on March 21 and 22, including hours climbing up and down the ladder, holding our hands over our heads and trips to Home Depot for more composite trim and a run to 84 Lumber to purchase one more length of bead board. Yup. One.

We weren’t happy with the pine used on the flat surfaces and replaced it with PVC, and in doing so discovered that the wall was not property protected from water, so we added tar paper left over from our shed construction project.

On Saturday, March 28, following a trip to both Home Depot and Ace Hardware, we finished the trim. Matt did all the fancy figuring and complicated cuts to get the pieces to fit together just right. Then we washed down the all the surfaces inside the porch.

That night, in a fit of insanity (while I “supervised” and scowled), Matt began working on the Gauguin outdoor ceiling fan by Minka Aire, purchased in October 2008 from Capital Lighting. It had been in the way ever since. Once we opened up the box, it was more in the way than ever. This is why Matt felt compelled to finish the tricky wiring job on Sunday morning despite the rain.

Matt accomplished a project I thought we’d be paying an electrician to complete. Was I impressed? Mighty impressed! This week Wasko’s team measured for screens. By May, we should have a fully functioning porch.