we stained our deck black

Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful long weekend, we said farewell to summer at a

 fun family BBQ with tennis, volleyball, horseshoes and lots of food!

I shared my favorite dessert that's always a hit at get-togethers on Instagram.

Before the snow starts flying I thought I'd share our deck makeover. :) If you

remember back in June we were waffling and finally decided to take the plunge

 and stain our deck black. 

If you're interested in the stain details they follow the pretty pictures. :)

I gave this old potting bench a makeover a couple years ago, you can also

see a before of the deck here, too.

I brought my favorite taxidermy outside for the summer, she got spiffed up with

ivy and Japanese anemone blossoms from our yard. The oversized lantern is

great in the evenings, I found it and the taxidermy at Homegoods. 

  

I haven't told you about a Craigslist score I found a month or so ago, a vintage

rattan set that I'll be using on the deck. Here is a peek at one of the pieces. The original

box cushions are in amazing condition, I'm thinking of having them recovered. I was

trying out a couple Ikea pillows, they fit perfectly, but aren't as cushy. The set has a

large sectional with a ton of options for rearranging the seating, you know I've been

playing with this for days. :)  

Onto the black stain...we love it! But, it's definitely more maintenance than a

wood color stain. We haven't noticed that it's hotter than what we previously had.  

  As far as fading in our intense sun, and how it holds up over the winter, we'll have to

 let you know next year.

We read reviews until we were thoroughly confused, you can find as many

 good reviews as bad for every product sold. We ended up choosing Benjamin Moore's

Arborcoat Semi-Solid Stain - Black and Arborcoat Protective Clear Coat. 

After completely sanding our deck boards we applied two coats of the semi-solid

stain per manufacturer's instructions and one coat of the protective clear coat.

Here a few items that may be an issue if you're considering black stain.

As you can see debris from our trees lodges between the boards.  

The stain settled in some nooks and crannies and screw heads in the wood, those areas

 are lighter. 

This is what it looks like after a rain and a golden retriever...

We remedy that by hosing it down and going over it with our sponge mop which easily

 glides over the smooth boards. If we hadn't sanded them down I doubt that this would be

 a good option, as ours was rough and splintered here and there.

Bottom line: After two months and a lot of rain and paw prints we're still loving

the contrast with our white siding and black shutters. The extra maintenance is

manageable, (and would certainly be easier without a dog) the durability is yet to be

 determined, we'll let you know how it holds up. 

Also, a reminder to stop by and visit two of my favorite inspiring blogs,

 Shelley @ Crazy Wonderful and Becky @ This is Happiness

are both sharing on the Tour through Blogland today.