The Finished Pool Deck

So it has taken me forever but I finally remembered to snap some pictures of the pool deck that Scott completed (all by himself I might add...I'm just a tad bit impressed with his building skills...hmmm wonder what else he can do :).  

So here it is in mid building process.  Scott hand dug all those post holes - I believe the total was something like 8 or 10 - so NOT an easy task.

He adjoined it to our current deck, just a few steps down to be at pool level.

Here's the big picture so to speak.

And one to give you an idea of how big it truly is.

He did all of this in roughly 2 days.  I know - impressive right!  Then it started raining and he couldn't finish getting on the deck boards for a few days.  But from start to finish I think it took him a week and that was because he worked on it after work so truthfully I think he could have finished it in 3 days...he is quite amazing!

And here it is all finished.  We have been enjoying it these past few weeks and it makes the pool 10 times better.  The girls can get in and out on their own (bonus!) and Scott and I can sit on the edge to watch - well within reach if they get in trouble, but we don't actually have to be in the pool...cuz you know adults sometimes think 72 degrees is just too dang cold!

We just went with simple steps.  Scott insisted we actually buy the tread boards...and he was right (yeah I know he's totally happy this is going in writing) as they really do make them non-slip which is pretty important since they will be wet pretty much 90% of the time.  Oh and notice the gate.  We have the exact same thing on the steps on the other side of our deck (down to the yard) - it came with the house.  This is the best idea ever when you have kids (or friendly neighbor dogs who think they can walk on your solar cover).  I could (and still can as there is a lock on both gates) let the kids play right out on the deck while I make dinner and have now worries about them falling down the steps.  Of course Lilly did just that last night while I was standing 2 ft away.  The pool girl looks like Rudolph with her skinned up and red nose :(.

As you can see there is plenty of room to RUN and jump in the pool - which Lilly is getting quite well at...Nolee on the other hand is a bit cautious still.

And the view from the lower deck to the upper deck...kind of feel like I'm talking about a boat.

So far I haven't been able to make any of our current outdoor furniture quite work down here so these chairs are just temporary and ultimately headed for the fire pit area that Scott is working on.  And believe me I tried to make something work as my husband will attest to all the different stuff I made him help me drag out there .

We can't stain it until next year as we have to let the wood "dry out", but that's fine with me because now we can just sit back and enjoy it.  I can't express enough how amazed I am by Scott's building skills with this deck.  I mean I knew he could build stuff, but never thought he could do this all by himself in less than a week and have it turn out professional looking.  Even my dad was completely blown away - it's always so nice to get the dad approval :).  Of course I'm sure my Dad was thinking too of how handy Scott's skills will be this summer as Scott is working on the farm and helping build a MASSIVE new barn.  I have to get out there to take pictures - seriously this thing is HUGE and I think it's pretty darn cool that Scott will be part of building it.  Of course they just started laying the tin roof this week so he may disagree :).