Securing Our Screen Room

When we bought our house it was winter. The inside of the home had been renovated but the outside was in direr need of some TLC. Nonetheless the weathered two story screen rooms were instantly my favorite rooms in the house. I love drinking coffee and looking out over the yard, my gardens and watching the dogs sunbath while thumbing through a magazine or a book. Since I had a baby these moments are limited but, very much valued.

However, when I had my daughter it became apparent to me that there was a problem. The elderly woman that owned the home before us, the original owner, never had children. She never worried about them falling two stories. It hadn't occurred to me that the screens went to the floor until I was on maternity leave and was sitting out there. Call it maternal instinct but, it suddenly hit me that something would need to change.

So after over a year of debating the best way to secure the second story screen room without it looking out of place or ruining my view I decided to go with preform rails from HOME DEPOT. these are very similar to the railings on the rest of the deck and I don't think take away from the aesthetic. I showed these pictures to my co-worker and he thought they added to the look, which made me very proud of my choice.

 

This project is taking us sometime because we have to stop and start with the baby and we had another hiccup when we discovered there was a large yellow jacket nest in our drainpipe. My poor husband was stung. (I think its safe to say this was a good inclination that we are overdue to clean the gutters). But I wanted to post some of our progress.

This is where I am going to give some credit to my husband. He was not very handy going into the marriage but he has really proved himself on this project. A man who never used a power tool until we were in our house, now had all the bolts and brackets and thought through almost all the issues. I was pretty proud.

 

 

We still have to do the other side and attach the rail behind the drainpipe. OH and put the screens back in, which I'm thinking I will replace because they are old and kind of dry rotted with some holes. But its coming along.

 

I'm also repainting all the existing white on the deck. it was definitely due, it hadn't been done since the year we moved in, three years ago.  I have to say projects that I would have done in a day now take 3-5 because I stop to play or feed or clean or just calm my little one. Kids really do make things go slower ! But they are only little once, so I try to embrace the 'breaks'.

 

 

Apparently our Cocker Spaniel rubbed against the rails because when we finally sat down at night we saw that Bon Bon looked like this. We should have named her Shadow because she always has to be with you even in the close to 100 degree heat and her new white markings prove that to be true.

 

I will  post once its complete but, I thought I would share our progress.