Staining Complete...nearly

This weekend was all about trimming the hedges, fertilizing the lawn and staining, staining, and staining. I'm nearly done. I just have one more gate to stain and that will be it! I stared at the gate for a long time to see if I wanted to stain it at all because it still looks pristine...sorry no pics. In the end, I'll stain it again, just so that it will weather the same color, but seeing how the front gate didn't need to really be re-stained after nearly 5 years just reiterated to me that hand staining does make a difference.

The rest of my fence was sprayed and it seemed to have lasted only 4 years. This year, I decided on a whim that I would hand stain my entire fence. Quite honestly, I thought, even before I began, that I would be giving up mid-way, but nope, I kept chugging a long. The only thing that prevented me from finishing this weekend was rain.

Here's the before.

and the after

I love the darker color. You'll have to excuse that one bright piece above the door. The pool builder broke that piece and replaced it with the wrong color stain. I may re-stain that piece with an even darker stain to try to match it.

I thought getting pricked by my rose bushes while I was staining was bad, but it was nothing like getting stuck with my palm tree needles.

It was a good thing I trimmed them before I started. It could have been worse.

Finishing up the last panel will have to wait until this weekend since rain is predicted to come for the next few days. Here's the run down of what I spent. The stain was a whopping $40 a gallon, but it was supposed to be the best out there. I used up 6 gallons and with my 10% off coupon, the final cost was $216 for the stain. I spent $4.91 on a stain brush which brings my total with tax to $239.14 for materials. I spent approximately 3 days staining (technically 2 full days and 2 half days). Last summer, I received a quote for $580 to stain my fence so staining it by hand saves me about $340 and at the very least lasts 2 years longer which by itself is worth it.

I am so happy I got one thing off my list. What's more to come? I have to clear out some of our dead plants that didn't make it through the drout, mulch the flower beds, plant some begonias, stain the swing set, build a clubhouse for my boys, separate my plants that have multiplied, and so much more.

I hope to tackle most of these projects if not all, before the summer heat catches up to us. At least, I got one major task nearly checked off my list. I am ec-sta-tic!