Three summers ago, we stained our bare wood deck, painted the railings and built a new (safer) staircase. It made all the difference in the world, although we always sort of wished that the opaque stain color we chose, Gray Birch, was a little less blue. It was the softest, prettiest gray, and while we loved […]

Three summers ago, we stained our bare wood deck, painted the railings and built a new (safer) staircase. It made all the difference in the world, although we always sort of wished that the opaque stain color we chose, Gray Birch, was a little less blue. It was the softest, prettiest gray, and while we loved the impact it made to our home’s front porch, we promised each other that, when the day came, we would chose a deeper shade with a touch more warmth. Our back staircase was a test, and we opted for just that. We landed on this opaque stain from Sherwin Williams in Flagstone. So many times we second guessed ourselves. As we initially watched the stain rolled on, we thought, it’s brown! This is definitely brown. But as the stain dried, it turned into the most handsome grey. We couldn’t love the color more, so this year, we decided to bite the bullet and match the back deck to our front porch!
The bigger question was, how do you know when it’s time to restain your deck" Despite the cold Chicago winters, we’ve been impressed with the quality of our Sherwin Williams stain, so much so, that we didn’t consider touchi...