I’m been dreaming of the perfect outdoor living space for a few years now. There’s nothing more soothing and relaxing to me than enjoying time outside at home with my family. I’ve had this dream to renovate our existing deck into something visually beautiful and finally this summer we were able to make that dream a reality. As I shared with you in January, we’re planning on selling our home in the next year. We’ve outgrown our current house and we’ve been really investing the time and energy to create the perfect version of our house to place on the market. Since we are committed to saving money while we fix our house up, we’ve found ourselves doing many DIY projects. It’s something that me and my husband love doing together, so for us – it’s been a labor of love.

As I showed you last week, the deck off our house needed a TON of tender, love and care. When we first moved into our home, the deck was such a wonderful asset to us. We did a lot of entertaining on our deck throughout the first few years of living here, but recently – we’ve really begun to shy away from bringing anyone outside on it. The wear and tear of the seasons in New England has just done a number on it. Chipped paint. Eroded wood. The deck just wasn’t something I wanted people to see when they came over. We haven’t fully enjoyed our deck with guests in years. With the thought of putting our house on the market, we knew it was time. We couldn’t let another summer go by without taking care of it.

We partnered with Thompson’s WaterSeal on a DIY Deck Project to bring this deck to life that we love so much! As with any DIY project, you never know what you’re getting yourself into when you start something. My husband and I had grand plans of stripping away the old paint and then staining it. That was our initial plan. As my husband started to take all the furniture off the deck – grill, table, chairs and potted plants – he noticed that the wood wasn’t looking so good. To be blunt, the wood was eroding. My husband was worried about the look and wear/tear of some of the wood planks on our deck and felt it was in our best interest to replace them. Obviously this meant our DIY Deck Project would become more intense, but we knew we wanted it to be safe for our family and the next family that moves in.

When I saw some of the wood that my husband was referring to, I knew we made the best decision ever!

Over the last week and half we have worked like little bees measuring, cutting, sanding, nailing and staining the planks of wood for our deck. The best part for me was getting to use the Thompson’s WaterSeal Signature Series Stain & Sealer! We chose the color Autumn Brown in a transparent opacity and when we finally saw it on the wood… it was EXACTLY was we had envisioned! Beautiful. Classic. Clean. Perfection!

What I love about Thompson’s WaterSeal Signature Series Stain & Sealer is that you not only get a gorgeous enhanced wood grain but you also get the ultimate protection from damage caused by rain, snow and intense sunlight. We get all weather situations here, so I love knowing that I’m protecting my deck with a deck stain that will hold up to the test of time and elements. It really is long-lasting and has an incredible durable protection. I was just blown away by how quick and easy it was to stain our deck. I’ve done smaller staining projects before, but this was a whole new ballgame for us… it was seamless!

As you can tell, we took our DIY Deck Project very seriously. We were committed to creating a beautiful space for our house and it turned out better than we ever dreamed or expected! I literally want to live out on our deck every single day this summer! I love that we took the time to create a deck that we knew would be best for us, but the most visually appealing, too! I love knowing that this deck, even when we’re long gone from this home, will always be here for people to enjoy.

As you can see, we’re just thrilled! What I love about Thompson’s WaterSeal is that their waterproofing wood stains prevent water damage, while the coating resists mildew and UV damage. It is PERFECT because we really do have the sun, snow, rain, sleet and hail here in New England! Watching this whole DIY Project come together has been awesome. This journey really was such a blast! I highly recommend recreating the look of something special in your home/work life with an easy stain project.

I’m officially ready for the summer to begin!!! Thank you so much, Thompson’s WaterSeal!

Thompson’s WaterSeal can also help you create the deck of your dreams with their Deck Party Of Your Dream’s contest. One lucky winner will receive a grand prize package worth $20,000! Simply follow this link to enter from now until the end of July and tell them how a deck makeover would help you enjoy more time on your deck with family and friends: http://www.thompsonswaterseal.com/dreamdeck.

*Sponsored posting with Thompson’s WaterSeal. All opinions and 100% my own.