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How We Painted Our Rainbow Deck
© Stephie McCarthy
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Our rainbow deck measures about 500 square feet.
This is one side …
It's every color of the rainbow.
There's nothing neutral about it!
And we've grown to enjoy it so much
we don't want it to wash away so have begun
covering it with leftover sealers and top coats.
It is as colorful as a Unicorn's dreams.
But of course it wasn't always like this.
This deck is a fantasy space in progress.
Originally this deck was gray, dull,
and starting to rot in one spot by the
back door.
We were nervous about that and tried all sorts of remedies.
In the meantime, we did all the right things like
cleaning the deck thoroughly and applying stains
and preservatives. Really tedious work!
(If you've ever refinished a deck, you're
probably
not looking forward to doing it again!)
We found out that brown stain shows so much dirt!
Plus all that hard work fades away leaving
the your deck dry and gray once again. And,
our slimy spot remained no matter what.
Then one summer we had an epiphany to make
the maintenance work more fun by using leftover
latex paints.
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In the beginning we used mostly blues and greens
blending the two with water and a brush.
The outside of the deck is plain brown.
Just the inside has wild radiant colors.
It's a private space no one really sees except for friends!
The colors make a marvelous back-drop
for photography with all the natural lighting.
As time went by, we grew bolder and added
wild colors from small bottles of craft paint …
… then spatters and even metallic paint.
We learned to apply the colors with paint sticks
and scrapers. It's amazing how this
will mimic the look of chippy painted wood.
Paint fades quickly in the rain, leaving just a few
traces here and there. It's an
ephermal thing
outdoors, especially on
horizontal surfaces.
But, now we are using our leftover sealers and
top coats to help the rainbows last longer.
Marine varnish is your best friend outdoors,
well worth the cost. But any sealer is better than none.
And bonus! The paint reconditioned our wood and
healed the rotting spot! Acrylic is like a rejuvenator
to aging wood, plus the rainbows colors hide all
sorts of dirt that plain brown paint will show.
Time lapse of the transformation.
You can also do this project on picnic tables,
benches, and wooden fences.
When you think about it, rainbows are ever so practical!
Check out the video here!
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