We absolutely love our wood deck outdoor living! It’s as big a part of our life as the house is. I mean that literally of course. The deck and the house are roughly the same size at around 1000sf so, for us, outdoor living is where it’s at!
When the weather is nice, which thankfully is quite often in our parts, we spend many hours outdoors cooking, entertaining, relaxing, and even working!
My personal favorite is the cooking and eating. I live to grill. So much so that I wonder why I haven’t come up with a line of T-shirts or bumper stickers all about grillin’ and the joys it brings. Besides the fact that the food from Tim’s Tiki Grill (one of the randomly rotating names for my outdoor kitchen) is SO world-class, cooking out on the grill has a much longer list of benefits:
- Family Time — My outdoor cooking is famous. I’m not just being modest. It’s something people gather for. They wait for it. A line (however short) forms as the grill starts to warm up. This brings everyone together and puts the entire group into a great mood. The beautiful surroundings, the comfortable shade of an umbrella, the aroma in the air, and the overall tropical feel of the Tiki Bar just makes for great family gatherings.
- Getting to Know Guests — Grilling takes a little time and, just like an indoor kitchen, the area around the grill becomes a bit of a gathering space whenever we’re entertaining guests. The result is it’s a great way to get to know friends and neighbors just a little better. Nothing breaks the ice like a cold drink under a palm tree next to a gently smoking Kamodo cooker!
- Low Carb Wonder — As I write this I’m on a road trip (I’m in Paducah, KY at the moment) so my dreamy tropical deck isn’t the only reminiscing I’m doing. I’m also longing for my normal low carb diet which is very hard to find on the road. The RG Grill & Bar (another name) is famous for MEAT and vegetables, be it on the grill, on the skillet, or even fried… it’s always good and pretty much always low carb and healthy (most of the time, anyhow)
But it’s not all about the grilling. We hang our hammocks, chill in our Adirondack chairs, and sometimes even kick out a blog post or two out on the deck.
I do worry about the future a little bit…
Our deck is 100% real wood. Right now I’ve got it looking pretty good but in this hot Florida sun the wood is showing some serious signs of age. Cracks, warps, and splits are the kind of thing you generally consider “beyond repair” and mine are getting worse every year.
I’ve been considering this deck restoration product from Behr. BEHR DeckOver is a 100% Acrylic product that will fill cracks, gaps, gouges, etc. up to 1/4″ thick. It’s available in a large number of colors (54 to be exact) so that would give me some design options. Kim and I have kicked a few color ideas around and can’t decide…
Going over my old wood with BEHR DeckOver would probably get me at least a few more years from the wood, saving thousands of dollars in replacement cost and creating a smooth non-slip surface to keep our outdoor lifestyle going strong.
So, resting easy in that knowledge, I grill on… (or at least I will when I get back from the trip across the country we’re currently on!)
~ Tim
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of BEHR®. The opinions and text are all mine.