sheesh. what an experience it can be to self-publish. all this time i've been wanting to have the book be bigger. an 11x17 in 1/2. however, i am finding that 11x17 is a very hard thing to find in person. and, all i have found for paper options is bright white regular mutli-purpose paper, which quite frankly i'm not too keen on but had decided to go w/ anyway. but as i have researched around for 11x17 for a cover, i'm finding equally few options that aren't crazy expensive or geared toward a laser printer (we have an inkjet and it can accomodate 11x17, which at the time of purchase took us to 4 stores to find on that size). so...as my frustation mounted (in a more bummed out than angry sort of way), rob asked why we couldn't just use 8x11 and fold it in 1/2. ah! a small book. so....i printed out smaller versions and it looks just as nice and now i'll have all sorts of options for better paper (hopefully some sort of gloss) and simply use the cardstock i bought to experiment (before buying in 11x17 online) as the real deal. its ok, but again, w/out the laser printer my options on glossy cardstock are few. plus, this way i'll use way less ink as well. so...until a real publisher comes along, a small book it shall be. :)
ok. let's review. here is what our deck used to look like. peach colored loveliness that got disgustingly dirty.
we knew that the wood was in pretty good shape unlike the other portions of the deck that extend into the yard. so we sanded away the peach and grit and found it was lighter colored than we thought.
rob believes it some sort of fir and we sanded and stained/oiled it with what we're using on the cedar (of the deck we built). its simply "natural cedar" color. but doesn't it look wonderful compared to that peach?
