Revealed Truth Standing On My Deck

The Binford-Bell Studio Deck

When I first bought my home in Black Lake it was in many ways a compromise. It didn't have a deck or even a porch for sipping morning coffee. But then neither did the house I was moving from. The house my husband of the time refused to entertain any changes to.

And my plans and dreams of the changes I would make to my new home were put on hold by the changes which had to be made because of the lies the seller and his agent made. First there was the new well, and then the new lift station for the septic system. Costly things. I contented myself with cosmetic changes to my living space. And necessary upgrades to the attached rental unit. I tried modifications to the back porches on both sides but they are on the north side. Coffee in a rocking chair I bought specifically for the purpose was a chancy and very seasonal thing. It suited only dashing out in coat and snow boots to capture a fleeting dawn; quickly, very quickly.

I began to plan and scheme to have a sunporch with attached deck on the alee side of the house. By 2006 the small sunporch was a green house and then a studio with passive solar. Construction began in the spring of 2007 and by that fall I had fired my contractor and began work on finishing the project myself. Fall 2009 the dreamed of studio was done except for the deck. There was only temporary steps.

"Temporary" steps

They were really not that temporary. Or even big enough for a chair. Still I would sit on the steps and enjoy a warm weather lunch with my fur kids. Decks were expensive and the contractor had put a lien on my house because I had kicked him off. I was not about to do further improvements on a place he might win from me with a judicial decision however unjust. Five years later that was decided in my favor and I was fighting of the stagnation of not moving forward.

Then a friend gave me wood and the deck project became a dream again. A dream which had to become a reality before the snow fell. And because I did not trust contractors I wanted to do it all myself. But realistically I cannot hold both ends of a board at the same time. I got the opportunity to confront all my trust issues instead.

Isaac Martinez and crew

And the good news is they finished it in one day and one morning. I had to live with the temporary steps to new deck for only a few hours.

New deck with its own set of temporary steps

Besides there was a lot I can do to personalize this dream a long time coming. First was picking a stain color and staining it. Thicke immediately approved of his new hunting platform over looking the vole fields.

There is much more to do to make it totally mine. And several things which will have to be done quickly before winter snows. I am reminded some of the longest journeys are just outside the door. The door which once only had temporary steps, and now has a 8 x 12 foot deck with five and a half foot wide steps toward the gate.