Saturday, February 16, 2013

Screen Porch Update

Cable railings-We didn’t want to do wood railings/spindles because it would block our view…we got a little creative (surprise surprise) and decided to do cable railings. (We ran it by the inspector and he liked the unique idea and passed it!) Boy, were we relieved!  We have two cables running between each support beam (one at one foot and one at 3 feet) and Ryan tied them off with turnbuckles. The turnbuckles match the ones that are across the ceiling for the cross-ties. It looks really neat and we didn’t lose any of our view. The cables blend in with the background and you hardly notice them!

 2 screen doors- we bought two screen doors at home depot and are so excited about them! One of them we got for 50% off because the screen was damaged..which was fine by us- that’s an easy fix! ;)
Beaded Board- Ryan bought beaded board for the ceiling. We put it up against the plywood so that the ceiling looks recessed and the beams are still exposed. 

Ceiling color- We picked out a color to paint the ceiling-sherwin Williams Sky High (a really light blue).You can see the quarter round is already painted...we need it to warm up to paint the ceiling!
Chose a fan- we found an awesome fan that has a pretty large diameter so we only need one fan out there. 
 Outdoor Speakers- Thanks to Aunt Lynda and Aunt Laurie we have outdoor speakers, and they are great!!! We put two on the porch and two on the patio ceiling.
 

Railing- At first we thought we wanted a wrought iron railing for the stairs and we found one on craigslist. But it didn't work out so well. Ryan ended up building a railing and it looks fantastic. He built them out of metal pipes, cut and welded them together and then spray painted it a flat black. They match perfectly with the style of the rest of the porch. 
Stone work- We had to build stone steps on both sides of the porch and a landing on one side. Ryan has become very talented with stone-masonry and has recently taught me. It's actually pretty fun!
Getting ready to pour the slab
Installed the handrail
a craftsman
Steps and slab done!
He did such a good job!!
On the patio side of the porch we had to bring the landing out a little further or else you would step off the porch onto a step.


Starting the stonework-no more gap going stepping onto the porch!
 Ryan set the stones along the front to make sure they are level (the engineer) and I filled in the rest (the artist). I definitely have much more of an appreciation for stonework.
The two steps I did-not too shabby for my first go!

Steps are almost done!
So the screen porch is getting there! I am already working on decorations. Haha I just can’t help it, we are SO excited to use it in the spring and can’t wait for y’all to hang out on it with us too!