The Finished Product

The contractor came back this morning and set to work on the railing. It was actually pretty quick work.

We now have two sets of four-foot wide steps, one set leading straight out into the yard, the other leading off to the side as before. The old steps were only three feet wide.

Ahhh...so pretty and clean and fresh. You can still smell the sawdust. Well, you can't, but I can!

It looks so much bigger to me. It's not, but with no built-in bench on the far end, it feels bigger and gives us a bit more flexibility in where we can put things. Besides, the bench wasn't comfy anyhow, so no one ever used it.

The only issue I have is the hand railing (or lack thereof). To me, it looks unfinished, like it needs a flat board on top along the way down the steps. The contractor said he would give us some time today to look at everything and then be back later this evening to discuss any concerns we might have and for final payment. I think I'm going to ask him if he can put a flat board (I'm sure that's not the technical term here) to top off the hand rail down the steps. I would think that will make it look a little more polished!

This is what I was talking about above. This is looking down the hand rail at the top of the steps. Don't you think it needs...something? And I think eventually I'll pick out four post caps for the ends of both sets of steps, but I think we can manage to install those ourselves!

All in all, I am VERY pleased to not have to worry about pool maintenance and safety and I'm very thankful to have more room for the kids to run and play. We're even thinking of putting up a swingset. Now all we need is grass....