Today, we continue on our quest to find the best ways to completely ignore the “manufacturers recommended use” section on your average paint can. We’ve already shown how to use interior paint on outdoor walls, and how the great combination of automotive primer and everyday spray cans can be used to refinish kitchen cabinets.
What’s next?
Turn this UGLY deck:
Into this PRETTY deck:
Now look, I’ve said before this isn’t rocket science, so don’t be mad when I tell you the secret process. Kay? First, take a close look at the wood before, but don’t go being all judgmental, you have to understand the sun here. If we don’t water our plants for two days…they burst into flames. So, after a few seasons and a Category 4 Hurricane or two, the wood starts to look like this:
Old, rough, faded, rusty in places, and a little broken. (this is not the title to my auto-biography!) Most people would say it was worn out. Time to replace it. But what kind of Remodeling Guy would I be if I thought that way? There must be something we can do.
The Big Let Down
The process was so simple we didn’t even take pictures. I replaced the broken board with a new one while Kim very lightly painted over the deck using a foam brush and interior Ralph Lauren Paint in a Aegean Blue.
The trick was just to use a very light touch with the brush so as not to get the paint into all the worn crevices and the wood. The result is a worn look that will look even better as it weathers over time.
The color worked out perfectly with the yellow wall and the white shutters!
So, there you have it. Not much of a secret, but a great finish nonetheless. The pressure treated lumber has many years of stubborn resistance to the relentless sun left in it, so we’ll be happy while the deck is blue.
You can read more about my conversion to Ralph Lauren Paints here.
Have a great week!
Ok I just bought my first quart of Ralphies. Celery. Love the color. I am in the process of painting an old ugly brown secretary I got off craigslist. I am going to Love it. I bought glass knobs for the three drawers and a wooden scrolly thing a majig for the door. I’ll be sure to post and let you know so you can see it.
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Wow! I’m loving that blue color! Certainly more inspiring than that boring ol’ deck stain I used on my old deck!
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Can you show us a wider shot of that back patio? I’m confused about where the yellow paint stops — the rest of your house isn’t yellow, is it?
I LOL’d twice during that post! This blog is like therapy.
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Yeah, I remember the blazing FL sun and what it can do to your property. We were hit by the eye wall of Charlie, Frances AND Jeanne in ’04. I don’t miss that. We need to do something with our deck. This just may work for us.
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Oh yes, we all loved this deck when we saw it the first time during your remodeling round up. 🙂
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Hmmm, love your ‘pretty’ deck. Did you do any prep prior? I guess I’d like to see how it holds up – like maybe in a year or two?
I have a similar ‘ugly’ deck that I’m considering staining with either a semi-transparent/opaque (haven’t decided yet) stain.
love it!
What a fabulous idea. It looks wonderful, and I LOVE the door!
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I have a deck that has been painted, scratched, scuffed, sun-bleached and is trod on daily by my labrador. I am going to give the Ralph Lauren paints a try! Thanks for the advice! I wonder- should I try and remove the old paint, first? I used porch paint. (probably valspar or behr).
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I LOVE that and it’s something even I could do!
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I love it! I’m looking to repaint a party that sits underneath our barn (animals not included)…this is so inspiring!
I’m a fan of Ralph Lauren paints too…I redid dresser with “mahogany” and my entryway is “moonlight”. 🙂
Have a great weekend!
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You had me at “automotive primer…” =)
That deck is so pretty!
I have a question about my front porch, but after trying to put it in the comments, I realized I was starting to ramble on and on. I’ll email you! =)
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I have been ready to ditch our deck for a while. We painted it white with opaque stain and the floor and top of the rail haven’t weathered well. I have always used Behr paint but I am running out to get some Ralph and treat our deck to a facelift. Thanks for the fabulous tips. Now do you have any for real facelifts cheap and easy?
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RG said … Old, rough, faded, rusty in places, and a little broken. (this is not the title to my auto-biography!)
Are ya SURE, Tim? What’s a blog, if not an autobiography-in-progress? And surely you’ve described yourself in similar terms on more than one occasion 😉
Whose autobiography do you think this might be from?
“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened.”
Same guy, different source, further thoughts on the same topic:
“An autobiography is the truest of all books … for while it inevitably consists mainly of extinctions of the truth, shirkings of the truth, partial revealments of the truth, with hardly an instance of plain straight truth, the remorseless truth is there, between the lines, where the author-cat is raking dust upon it which hides from the disinterested spectator neither it nor its smell (though I didn’t use that figure)–the result being that the reader knows the author in spite of his wily diligences.”
Yep, I’ve been away too long …
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