Deck “Before And After” with “Lodge Brown” Solid Stain for the Deck and Railings

Welcome to the 456th Metamorphosis Monday!

Sorry this is going up a bit late. The painters are here finishing the staining of the basement door so I’ve been downstairs working with them this morning.

The makeover of the two decks on the back of my home is complete. I like the brown railing a lot more than I ever thought I would. The stain color is Sherwin Williams, Lodge Brown.

Deck Makeover, Lodge Brown Stain from Sherwin Williams

 

Before, when the railing was white, it showed everything.

 

I have a lot of trees in the backyard, so each time I had the deck and railing pressure washed, it would look like this again in no time.

Paint Rails Brown to Disguise Dirt and Mildew

 

Very frustrating!

Paint White Rain Brown to Cover Dirt and Stains from Overhead Trees

 

I’ve added back the birdbath. The birds really, really missed it while it was gone during the recent cleaning/staining of the deck. As soon as I added it back, it was covered up in chickadees, cardinals, goldfinches, bluebirds and wrens. They all came for a sip and the chickadees and bluebirds jumped in for baths…at the same time! I wish I’d had my camera downstairs to capture that, it was sooo cute watching them splashing around together!

Deck Stained in Lodge Brown, Pegola, Outdoor Chandelier

 

If you have a deck rail, consider adding one of these bird baths to the railing. It will attract more birds than seed will! Seriously! The birds are always looking for water, especially during periods when it isn’t raining very much.

 

The birds and squirrels love it during the summer…

Squirrel Drinking from Birdbath

 

…and they are especially thankful for it come wintertime since it’s a heated birdbath and doesn’t freeze over. This is the one I have here: Heated Bird Bath. I plug this one in when the temps start dipping below freezing since the birds can have a difficult time finding water during the winter months when things freeze over.

 

I also hung the outdoor candlelier back up. I purchased it many years ago from Smith & Hawken. I’m not sure if I’m going to repaint the old metal furniture I had here, or buy new. The old furniture is so rusted, I’m very tempted to just replace it.

Deck Stained in Lodge Brown, Pegola, Outdoor Chandelier

 

The Other Deck

So, what about the other deck? This is the furniture that had been here for many years…probably 15+ years. After so many years, the umbrella eventually fell apart.

 

Next, I purchased this umbrella from Pier 1–loved its multi-layered “pagoda” style. It looks a bit big for the table in this photo, I do love a big umbrella for full coverage, though. This umbrella is still available, although they may not have the same color as the one I purchased. You’ll find it here: Pagoda Umbrella.

After I took this photo, I put the umbrella back inside my laundry room so it would stay clean until needed. I never really used it more than a couple of times, so recently I gave it to my son and daughter-in-law after I purchased new furniture for this deck.

 

The colors in the umbrella are a great match for their outdoor furniture seen in this previous post: A Secret Garden Party.

 

Update: Here’s how the umbrella looks with their furniture. Looks like it was made to go with their outdoor dining furniture!

Pagoda Umbrella for Outdoor Table, Outdoor Dining 2

 

Toward the end of summer, I was shopping in Home Depot when they were clearancing out their patio/deck furniture sets. I’ve always thought I needed to use a round table on this deck due to the shape of the deck, but at $299 for a full set of dining furniture, I decided to take a chance and try something different.

7-Piece Oak Cliff Dining Set

 

Here’s a photo showing how the deck looked before this recent cleaning. I had cleaned both decks around a year ago and had stained one, but never got back around to staining this one because I didn’t like the stain I had chosen and used on the other deck. So I was stuck…trying to decide which direction to go.

Outdoor Deck Furniture

 

So how about an “After” photo!

Deck & Patio Furniture Makeover

 

This is how this deck is looking now with the Sherwin Williams, Lodge Brown solid stain. I decided to go with a solid stain (even though the deck cleaned up nicely once it was washed) because it’s supposed to be easier to keep clean.

Deck Stained, Sherwin Williams Lodge Brown

 

The rails got the same treatment. It took two coats of stain/paint to cover the previous white paint.

Deck Makeover with Painted Deck Rails, Hampton Bay Oak Cliff Furniture

 

Still looks like summer here, but the leaves are just starting to change and fall. In another month all these trees will be bare.

Hampton Bay Oak Cliff Collection Patio Deck Furniture

 

I really do like this table and for $299 for the table, six chairs and cushions, it was an awesome end-of-summer deal. Looking forward to creating a tablescape on it sometime for Tablescape Thursday!

Dining Outdoor for Fall, Deck Patio Dining Set

 

A view looking across to the other deck…

Screened Porch, Decks, Deck Furniture

 

A “just-for-fun” view from behind the bottle tree. 🙂 (Read more about bottle trees in this previous post: Bottle Trees.)

Bottle Tree for Deck

 

Looking forward to all the great Before and Afters for this week’s Met Monday!

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Metamorphosis Monday

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Comments

  1. Your deck looks lovely Susan, what a wonderful spot! Thanks for the party today~

  2. Everything looks great, Susan. I have a birdbath and it’s such a pleasure to watch the animals come and make use of it. Ours is not heated, but it does get full sun all day long, so even in the dead of winter, it remains (mostly) unfrozen. That is a really neat feature though…

  3. Your decks turned out absolutely beautiful. The brown stain was the way to go. I love your new furniture. The “poppy” color of the cushions is so pretty. I think you will enjoy the rectangle table. More pretty tablescapes to create!
    Thanks for the info on the heated birdbath. I put one in my Amazon cart. I’m thinking of ordering one or two for Christmas gifts, too.
    Have a great week!

    • Thanks, Anne! I’m excited about having a rectangle shape table, haven’t ever had one on the deck like that before. I really love that birdbath, I saw such an increase in birds coming to the feeders when I added it. Even though bluebirds don’t eat seed, so don’t visit the feeders, they come regularly for the water.

  4. Your decks look great, I really like the brown top rails with the white, and your new deck furniture looks awesome.

  5. The deck looks great. Very similar to how ours is stained. We have 3 big tulip poplar trees behind our deck. They are the messiest trees on the planet, always dropping something. We have a birdbath, but it is intermittent with popularity with our birds. The one you have looks very deep. I’m surprised the smaller birds like it. We certainly do coddle our feathered friends, don’t we.

    • I sympathize, Pam…I have the tulip poplars too and they do leave a mess. I think I have one very close to the deck that has the table on it.
      This one is pretty deep so I normally don’t fill it all the way to the brim. If we get rain and that fills it higher, the birds still drink from it, they just don’t bathe until it’s a little lower.

  6. Wow! Your decks look fab! Thanks for all the info in this post. I’m off to order a heated birdbath!

    • Thanks, Jane! Hope you enjoy it and all the birds it brings as much as I have mine. I definitely saw an increase in birds visiting when I added the birdbath.

  7. Such a nice ending to this deck/porch saga. The new color looks great, especially the railing. After the staining of the new door, what adventure do you have planned next? Stay tuned!

    • Thanks, Mia! The door inside is looking way better now. They have a new guy working on it and he knew just what to do. I think they will finish it up either today or tomorrow.
      I think next will be the fencing that I’m replacing, but I may wait until after Christmas to do that…will have to see how the timing works out.

  8. Great job…really like the solid stain, very clean looking and looks nice with all the trees. appreciate you are so caring of the wild life. We have that same birdbath but the deck has been torn down awaiting the new one. Using metal rails for the new one not sure it will attach. Hubby has an elaborate critter feeding plan for everyone including a little rabbit feeding station on the ground. So cute to watch everyone.

  9. I really like the new look! What a lovely change for you!

  10. Vikki Barnett says

    I just might order one of those birdbaths. Hubby and I love looking at the birds in the back yard. Your decks look beautiful. My railings are plastic/pvc or whatever they use) and require cleaning frequently. I’m wondering if I could paint them. I’ll hafta see what google says about that. LOL I noticed you no longer have the copper solar post caps. Did they not live up to expectations? Vikki in VA

    • Thanks Vikki! They lasted great for about year or so, then the trees (and birds) dirtied up the little solar thingies, so they weren’t lighting for very long anymore in the evenings. Plus, the copper turned a really a ugly color…not a pretty aged copper look, just a really stained, ugly look…again probably from the trees. I loved them when they were beautiful and still lit up.
      So I gave up and went back to boring old brown wood post caps. At least they can be painted, when needed.

  11. Love your deck and the link for the heated birdbath. Is the chandelier for votives or was it originally wired for electricity? I’m looking for a votive chandelier for my deck. Any help is appreciated!

  12. Just beautiful! You must love gazing out on those decks now – and what a great bargain for the table and chairs! Love the color you picked out. It looks very elegant/classic.

    • Thanks, Lori! That was a surprisingly good deal. I just lucked out being in the right place at the right time. Had no idea they were on sale until I stumbled across them while shopping for other stuff.

  13. This looks SO good! I bet you’re sorry now to see the deck season ending, but you’ll sure be ready come next spring. Love the stain, the contrasting rails, the furniture, the birdbath……all of it. Great project management!
    Thank you, always, for each week of hosting your great Met Monday party.

  14. I love what you’ve done to the deck! What a great deal on the patio furniture. Your photography is on point too! Great job!

  15. Margaret Robinson says

    This is gorgeous! You are quite lucky in Atlanta as we priced it here where it is not on sale as yet and it was a little over $600 in California. It would have been nice, but our backyard as 4 or 5 Oaks and keeping anything clean is always the issue. Enjoy this beautiful set – looks like it belongs where you have it!!!!

    • Thanks so much, Margaret! So weird it went on sale here and not there. Yeah, trees make it so hard when they are near decks or deck furniture. But we love our trees anyway. lol

  16. What a great idea to stain/paint the top railing of the porch….I battle keeping the top rail clean too….love it! Thanks for hosting Susan and have a great week!

    • Thanks, Shirley! I know, those top rails are a challenge! Thankfully it’s only the top rails that seem to get so dirty…glad it’s not the balusters, too! XX

  17. Thanks so much for the party each week!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

  18. You will find the solid stain/paint much easier to keep clean and water just beads up on it. I used Olympic but the SW product should be the same.

    • Thanks, Frances! That’s what I’ve been told by the painting company, so hope that turns out to be the case…would be great! Olympic is good stuff, I’ve used that before to clean the deck floor and it worked really well. Do you use that on the railing? Maybe I could put it in a sprayer and spray it on, then rinse it off. I would need to get it all off really well so the birds wouldn’t get any residue on their feet when landing on the rails, which they do a lot.

  19. I really do like the dark stain on the railing, Susan. It’s VERY classy looking and so much easier for you.

    Thanks for the tip on the bird bath. I think I need to do that.

  20. Love, love, love the picture of the cardinal. My grandma’s favorite bird.

    • Thanks, Carrie! I love them, too. They are such pleasant birds, too…never scaring off the other birds. I love how they come late, late in the evening just as it’s starting to get dark. They are always the last birds eating at the feeders and I love to watch for them each evening.

      • You must have kinder cardinals than we have. Ours will land right on top of another bird to get them to move off the feeder. LOL

  21. Everything looks so fresh and clean! The colors in the bottle tree and the new furniture really pop now! Great makeover.

  22. Your decks, patio, porch and new furniture look GREAT.

    I *adore* that new stain choice, too, Susan. VERY well done, ma’am!

    Nice to be back to blogging – missed it terribly.

    Hugs. ♥

  23. Oh, my, Susan, you should be so happy with all of your choices! Everything looks fah-bu-lous!!! What welcoming spaces you have created. Bravo!!

  24. The decks look wonderful…so fresh and clean. What a deal on that furniture, eh? That one would be hard to pass up. I really liked the umbrella..whimsical. I noticed your gutters. They look like the ones offered at Costco as no clogging. I have them and they are wonderful.

    • It really was…got lucky that I tripped across that because they only had a few sets left that day.
      The gutters that I have are “Leaf Guard Gutters.” I don’t know if they are a local company only or if they are in other states. They have a lifetime warranty and they have been excellent at honoring that. I’ve only had one clog ever and they came right out to correct it. Been really pleased. Sounds like you’ve enjoyed them, as well! Does Costco also have a good warranty?

      • Those are the gutters I have. I had a brain freeze remembering Leaf Guard. Lifetime warranty through company. I think I received a cash card by going through Costco (got one for buying a car through them as well). Right after they were installed and it rained I had a leak at the end of the gutter. They came right out and re-glued it and I haven’t had a problem since. I love that I don’t have to get up on the roof to scrape out all the crap that gets in. We even had seeds sprouting!!

  25. Cyndi Raines says

    I just knew the brown lodge stain would look great and it does! Don’t you love how it outlines the entire deck area!
    So happy for you. I like your new table and chairs also, a great add. Can’t wait for a pretty fall tablescape on it. ♡

    • Thanks so much, Cyndi! It does kind of outline it, doesn’t it. Hadn’t really thought about it that way. 🙂
      Thanks…that was a lucky find that day in HD! I was shocked! Good time to shop for the deals at the end of the season.

  26. Love the new look. I also love the bird photos and laughed at the squirrel! Thanks for sharing those.

  27. New deck color is perfect-it looks so crisp and clean. What an awesome deal on the table set. Wondering if you plan to remove & store the cushions every time it rains, or will you just leave them out?

    • Thanks, Mary! I took them all in, after I took the photos. I always do that with cushions since I spend almost all my time on the screened porch. The decks mostly get used when I have friends/family over, so that’s when the cushions go back out. I just hate to see them ruined/faded in the weather and from the gunk falling from the trees, so like to take them in until needed. I have to say, these are the most comfortable I’ve had on deck furniture! I was amazed how comfortable they were!

  28. That looks fantastic! We use a solid stain (Cabots) on ours and it holds up really well. Winters are tough on it and the solid stain holds up great. We’re in full fall color hear and leaves are flying like crazy. It was a great summer and fall has been wonderful too so I guess I have to be ready for the next “W” phase. I hope the door staining project went well.

    • I had Cabots before, it was rated very highly in Consumer Reports. The paint company I used really wanted to use Sherwin Williams Super Deck 9600, it’s what the owner has on his deck…so hoping it holds up. Thanks, Liz!

  29. Susan, your deck looks fabulous! And I enjoyed seeing the wildlife pictures. Just wanted to let you know that I recently sprayed my black wrought iron furniture (with a sprayer and SW int/ext paint) and it looks brand new. It was a simple task to scrape the rust off before spraying. We use our set by our fire pit, which doesn’t get used as much as I would like. Purchasing a new set would be seem wasteful, so I’m so glad I made the effort to revive it. Thanks for the lovely party this morning! Cynthia

    • Thanks, Cynthia! I may end up doing that with mine. I think I’m just tired of the furniture and want something different, but unfortunately I have to always go with metal because something (squirrel? raccoon?) ate the brand new set of outdoor wicker I had on that deck, and I never got to use it more than a couple of times before they destroyed it. 🙁 They even chewed on my birdbath recently.

  30. You must feel like you have a new outside home! The changes are great. Fantastic deal on your table ser and the rectangle set looks good. Having a bird feeder and bird bath on the railing, do you get many bird droppings on’ the rail or deck? Tree limbs hang over my patio so I find the droppings to be problematic. Would love to have the heated birdbath.

    • Thanks, Mary Ellen! I really do…can’t believe the difference! I get some droppings, but not a huge amount. I just wash them off occasionally. It’s worth it for the close up views of the birdies. 🙂

  31. WOWZER!! I would live out there!!! It looks aaah-mazing!! We’ll see photos of you in your “parka” enjoying hot chocolate (in my case..with or without Bailey’s!!) franki

    • Thanks, Franki! That sounds like something I would do! I need my Leyland Cypress trees to grow even faster so my neighbors won’t see me and think I’m nuts! They probably already think that, though. lol 😉

  32. Susan, I hate to be sending this after your work is finished, but I just found it out this week in a neighborhood discusssion about decks. I thought about you as soon as I saw this. A man posted:
    Do NOT use a solid stain on the deck unless it is almost unrepairable due to age. Solid stains are almost a paint and they require complete stripping of the stain from the deck before reapplying, if not reapplied every 6 to 12 months. Stripping stain off a deck is a time-consuming and costly process. Solid stains are a last ditch, last stage effort to maintain a deck. I owned a deck and fence stain company for many years.
    Use a tint or semi-transparent stain.

    Susan, I hope this isn’t really the case for you. I know you did a lot of research before starting the project.

    • Thanks for that info. Daphne. My deck could have been restained the regular way again, but it never lasts. As soon as it was cleaned 6 months or a year later, it looked as if it had never been stained. It’s too much labor and cost to keep having to do that constantly. The owner of the paint company put this same product on his deck and has been really happy with it. It’s not like most solid stains, or that’s what I was told, because it’s oil based. The company I used has always backed their work so I think if I have a problem, they will correct it, but hopefully I won’t. Thanks though for letting me know.

  33. Hi Susan,
    Can you tell me how your deck color is holding up? We are considering this same color and brand. Also, did you repaint your rails and if so, do you remember the name of the the color. Thank you!

    • It has held up well. I’m glad I went with Lodge Brown. I was a little concerned it might be too dark, but it’s definitely not. No, I didn’t repaint the balusters below. They haven’t been painted since they and the porch were added on back in 2008. They have just been pressure washed when I’ve had the deck pressure washed. I’ve only had the porch and the pergola repainted…that was done a couple of years ago.
      The paint on the balusters is the same white that my entire house and porch was painted with back in 2008 and that’s Sherwin Williams Duration. I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend it. This is the longest I’ve ever had a paint job last. Ever! The painter who painted my house raved about this paint and told me it has a lifetime warranty. I thought, yeah…right. No paint lasts a lifetime! But this has held up beautifully for 10 years. The only place it hasn’t held up is on my two porch columns on the front porch and that’s because the painters didn’t prime those columns. 🙁 So, I’ll have to deal with that soon. I’ll probably have the whole house painted again soon since it has been 10 years.

      • Thank you so much for your reply.

      • Hi Susan,

        I was just looking at Lodge Brown for my own deck, and found your photos, now I am sold. Can you tell me:

        Which product you used for the Lodge Brown stain and if it’s still holding up?

        On the white balusters, you say you used Duration, can you tell me what color please? …and if it’s still holding up or how long it held up?

        Thank you for sharing, everything looks lovely!!

        • Hi Kathy,
          The Lodge Brown that was used is Sherwin Williams Super Deck Solid Color and the white is Sherwin Williams Duration in their color called Super White. It’s straight out of the can, no color or anything added to it.
          The Lodge Brown has held up well in most areas. The only area that I’ve had issues is where the water drips off the roof of the bay window on one deck. For some reason the Lodge Brown has chipped on the deck where the water drips onto the deck.

          Also, the Lodge Brown stain has chipped on the post caps I purchased in Home Depot. Maybe it’s the wood those are made of which I’m sure is cheap wood.

          My back decks are a challenge due to all the trees and the almost constant rain we get here in Georgia. I’m really sick of rain right now!

          • Thanks for the quick response Susan. We’re in Colorado and our deck faces north, the snow all winter takes its toll. We also have had a lot of rain this year, and while we appreciate the smaller water bills, we too are tired of the rain.

  34. Jeanmarie says

    We are in the process of picking out the solid stain by Sherwin Williams. I do love how Lodge Brown looks on your deck. Are you still happy with it? How did it hold up?
    All your details are so beautiful.
    May I ask on the white portion of the railings did you use the same product ? Or did you go with something else?
    I appreciate any feedback you canorivide

  35. Lois howe says

    I thank you for this post I love your decks and decided to paint my little deck with that color and I’m half done thanks to my wonderful 17 year old granddaughter Tessa who is my painting partner
    I was curious tho are your railings wood or plastic?
    Thanks again Susan

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