Recently, against my better wishes, my wife got me to hang accent lights outside on our patio. To her credit, the result turned out better than I had expected.

• The Patio Light Project

Since we had gone to so much trouble to improve the overhead, I thought we'd do something with the flooring.

1. We walked to the nearby hardware store, Pagano's, and asked what we should use to paint our outside wooden deck flooring. The clerk suggested floor and patio paint. Based on the product name, I didn't even second guess him.

   

2. We picked Toasted Pecan as a color because we didn't want it to be an exact match for the siding nor the trim, and we have a red rug outside and wanted the flooring to blend with that.

   

   

3. These are the "before" pictures.

   

   

4. We moved all of the stuff from the patio to inside the house. Years back, I coated the deck with Thompson's Water Seal. You can see where it's all gone now, except for where the rug was protecting the surface.

   

   

5. I applied the first coat using a roller with a very long 5-foot handle. Boy, did that make it easy.

   

6. When I lived in Arizona, I always wanted a power washer. I never had one. Finally, after we had moved to California, my children got me one for Father's Day. Being inexperienced with it, I scar'd the deck in a few spots. Now with the California drought, the power washer sits in the garage collecting dust.

   

7. I applied a second coat to make the finish last longer and see if I could cover up the power washer marks a little better. It helped, but it's still not perfect.

   

8. I let the second coat dry overnight.

   

9. Then we put everything back where it belongs.

   

   

10. These can be considered the "after" pictures.

    

    

Well, there you have it. Except for the overnight drying time, this whole project took about 3 hours.

Getting floored is alive in the lab.