Dreaming of taking the Home Remodel Outside...in the backyard!

As most of my regular readers know, my husband travels for work...a lot! He's finally caught a break in the traveling and I'm going to have him home for an entire month! This will honestly be the longest period of time we've spent together since he began his new job in August of last year.

I'm totally psyched!!

Of course I already have a list a mile long of things I want the poor hubster to help me with now that he's home...like finishing the family room so that we can get our master inspection done, painting Angeline's bedroom ceiling, rebuilding the above ground pool, installing wood laminate flooring in the bedrooms...and finally putting up some sort of privacy fence!

My two biggest concerns are the fence and the pool, because they really aren't a one person job - the other things I can do on my own while he's traveling, if need be.

Why is a fence such a big deal? Well...it's mostly due to my neighbors, whose backyard resembles a junkyard...and a farm. Between the trash, the pile of AC units and the chicken cages, I can't stand looking outside! I'd love some type of composite or pvc fencing in the backyard!

So instead of seeing this each day...

Yes, this is really the neighbor's backyard. Pretty gnarly, right?

I can see this...

Too bad the fence doesn't come with the forest, right?

We spend a lot of time outdoors - almost year round, thanks to the lack of cold seasons in Miami - and while we have a nice patio and a big above ground pool, it's always been a dream of mine to build a deck around the pool to join the patio and pool area together. After a spell of laziness on my part, the pool got filthy and we had to empty it, so we are planning on leveling out the ground and doing some work in that part of the yard before we refill the pool. My friend recently built a deck in her yard, and now I am dying to build one in our own!

I'd love a set up like this one...

I can just imagine us all lounging on the deck while kiddo and her friends play in the pool...the BBQs, parties and maybe I'd even take the laptop out there and get some writing done while I enjoy the warm Florida sunshine! I've already started checking out composite decking prices online to get an idea of what kind of budget we would need to plan for.

Now the only question is...which one do I talk my husband into working with me on first, the fence or the deck?