The Hygge Ranch Backyard Update: Fences, Railings, and Decks... Oh My!
“This post is in partnership with Barrette Outdoor Living because I love em & know you’ll love em too!”
If you recall last year, I shared my plans for the hygge ranch backyard resort. Going into this new year of projects, we made a conscious decision to prioritize exterior projects. We're extremely comfortable with the current state of the home's interior, in that we wanna spend time just living in the house, not tackling projects around the house. Summer spaces are made in the Winter, so instead, we've been spending the majority of the Fall into the Winter tackling the next phase of the backyard renovation - our deck.
You'll notice that throughout this undertaking, I'll be using using the word "phase" a lot and that's because none of this is gonna happen in one straight shot. It'll be a combination of projects we do ourselves and projects we hire out, and tackle in accordance to our schedules & bandwidth.
Last year I had an amazing consult with Barrette Outdoor Living about tackling the backyard & all the ways they could be part of bringing my vision to life. What I didn't realize at the time was that there are so many ways they could actually be part of bringing my vision to life. It's now very obvious to me why they're The Outside Company™. With Barrette Outdoor Living I could check a few things off our outdoor list -
demo & upgrade backyard deck
upgrade side fencing & gates
upgrade balcony railing
prepare for gardening season
Over the past few months - and into the coming months - we'll be working on all of this projects and ALL with Barrette Outdoor Living because they have something for everything! For our deck, we'll be using their DuraLife® Landscapes Collection™Decking in Mocha, and if you're following me on my @albieknows Instagram, you already know that demo & reno have been underway since Autumn.
The original deck was essentially 4 square quadrants together to form one larger square. Each quadrant ran perpendicular to the next, alternating horizontal & vertical. This works in our favor as we've been tackling the demo & reno by quadrant, as opposed to having to do the entire deck all at once.
After demo of the first quadrant, which included a raised platform, we went from working on a square deck to making a design pivot to accommodate an L-shaped deck. Why? So glad you asked. Turns out the substructure of that first quadrant was pretty much all rotted so... good riddance.
Moving into the second quadrant, we didn't encounter any rot and could press on because we're actually really excited by the idea of having an L-shaped deck.
With the integrity of the joists intact, for us, this means a relatively easy installation of our DuraLife® Landscapes Collection™Decking -
reinforce the existing beams with center posts
add blocking for when installing the railing
attach the Step-Clip® fastening system
dry fit & cut down composite planks to size
snap in & secure each the decking boards
This is one of the key reasons we went with Barrette Outdoor Living for our decking upgrade.
We wanted the general look of wood - we weren't trying to replicate wood - without any of the labor intensive installation or long term maintenance. The polypropylene and hardwood composite would give us the longevity & durability we want; and with the CoolTrac™ material composition, we get the benefit of heat & slip resistance properties... all of which we love. Nevertheless, top of the list for us was that this was an install we could DIY, and not hire out.
We're not avid DIYers, however, there are certain projects my husband loves to take on if it's within our means, in terms of the labor & time commitment involved. Just for funsies, we even got quotes for the labor and the average response was $35K. Thirty Five Thousand Whole American Dollars y'all?! Even if we had it, this is definitely not how we'd wanna spend it... not if we could help it. Five step install... $35,000? It was an easy choice.
Doing it ourselves comes with the freedom to make aesthetic additions without fear of additional costs. For example, upgrading the design of the deck skirting from the previous lattice design to a more modern design - Barrette Outdoor Living's Boardwalk Decorative Screen Panels.
These warp, rot, and scratch resistant panels are also what we'll be using for our pergola... another design upgrade that we're DIY'ing. After trying different umbrella's for two consecutive summers, we have also decided that we're pergola people & love how the new pergola will provide us with privacy & shade, without sacrificing style.
I don't wanna say once we finish the deck build the "hard" part if over... it is however, the largest part, as far as the overall deck reno goes. The original deck did not have a pergola or railing. The latter actually came up during inspection & we only just made it by 1" to pass... I suspect the previous owners did this on purpose lol. Whether or not we need railing is irrelevant to us. The deck is actually getting lower since the inspection measurement was up to the highest point & we're no. longer gonna have a raise platform.
We're opting to add railing to introduce a new visual element, create zoning, and have an additional layer of safety since we do have a child.
The railing we selected - Barrette Outdoor Living's RDI® Elevation™ Rail - is new to their catalog & we're looking forward to the installation since it includes pre-assembled kits with pre-installed brackets and pre-strung stainless-steel cables. Y'all... it's gonna be SO good - the matte black + mocha combination, for a very hygge inspired modern-meets-industrial vibe.
We're also thinking about dabbling with a wrap around stair design, now that the deck will be L-shaped, however, that'll be contingent on the difficulty of execution. We're fine with also just having the original stair design & having the railing go all the way around, almost like the Barrette Outdoor Living inspiration photo. I just know I am looking forward to the day when we can furnish the deck & enjoy this cool Spring nights with our new fire fit table & beautiful Summer days with our broiler. Y'all know I've long been daydreaming of bringing the indoors out. We even already have our new landscape lighting ready to go once all this destruction is done.
This'll all fall under one phase of the backyard reno before going into the what'll be the most arduous part of the project... and likely the only one we hire out - new fencing!
Just over 2 years ago when we bought this house, it had no back fence... something we finally rectified in that first year. Ever since, we've wanted to upgrade the side fences that we share with our neighbors (1) to have a more updated design and (2) because they're actually rotting (we were made aware of this at inspection too). One side also runs right up against our driveway so we're also going to being extending it to line up with our garage. We're really excited for the design of the fencing that we'll be upgrading to because this is also part of a much larger & further in the future project to redo our siding & completely change our exterior. Way further in the future!
While the fencing likely won't be done by the Spring, we're looking forward to having em in place for the Summer, especially since we plan to hire this out & reduce the amount of time it'll take. This has always been our approach to deciding which projects to outsource & which to tackle ourselves - do we wanna spend time & save money, or do we wanna spend money & save time. Considering the length of our fencing, the removal, and the installation, what a pro team may do in a week could easily end up taking us a month. Hard pass.
Working with Barrette Outdoor Living on our backyard reno has been a dream! In addition to high quality products that also match our style, the team has been top notch in helping us with all the technical aspects of ordering home improvement materials - i.e. measurements, quantities, etc. I'm not an exterior designer, so being able to lean on their expertise as part of our decision making has been invaluable. This means less time laboring over details that I don't understand, and more time doing something I do understand - window shopping!
What I’ve Got My Eye On
Now that y'all are all caught up, make sure you keep following along on my @albieknows Instagram.
