Rooftop Deck

In the Fall, we had a posting about the building of our deck. Here is an update... a look at the completed deck and miscellaneous outdoor projects.

Sam stained the railings with Olympic Maximum Tinted Waterproof Sealant in shade: Canyon Brown, from Lowes.
Rumor is: the darker the stain, the more sun resistant it is. That's not our only reason for picking a darker stain but it should help, since the sun in Baltimore is brutal. Bleached, brittle, grey rooftop decks are a common site around the city- a sure sign that we will have to re-apply periodically or the sun will get the best of us, regardless!

Just like the clock in our previous post, these vintage dinette chairs belonged to my Great Uncle Matt. 

A little old, a little rusty.. but a lot of potential. I disassembled each chair, sanded and spray-painted the pieces.  The seat was simple to upholster but since it was going to be outdoors, I used a water-proof fabric and placed a thin sheet of vinyl over that. 

This next chair, we purchased at Ikea some years ago and was looking very weathered. I discovered rub-on stain (it was on sale at JoAnn's) which was very easy and not messy at all. 

an instant improvement...

a view of Baltimore's skyline and a few more neighborhood roof decks

Spring Projects

Ever since the weather began to warm up, we have been doing projects every weekend. It is time for the blog to start catching up with us...

Clock

This clock belonged to my great Uncle Matt, who has been very missed since he passed away last July. There were several items that we have from him and his house that we are excited about refinishing and using in our home. This clock is the smallest of the items and the first one Sam tackled.

There is no "before" picture, unfortunately, but this is one I found online that was similar:

Sam replaced the original clock face with a slightly larger, battery operated clock (purchased at Ikea). Then, painted it white.

Mirror

We spent a long time without a mirror in the second floor shared bathroom. Most mirrors that I liked the size and simplicity of were in the $300-$500 range. In early spring, we were walking in Fells when I saw a refurbished, vintage mirror at Stony Run Home that was $150. I thought that was the one... Sam thought that he could do better.
He came home an starting building this monstrosity of a mirror:

It measures approximately 3' x 4', is made of solid wood and painted dark brown. It is similar to the mirror that we did see but nothing beats a custom job! Plus, the total cost came in well under $100.