I’m about to take on the biggest and most complicated DIY project that I have ever done. I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m not feeling confident about it, and I’m sure there will be many mistakes and much frustration. Do you want to take this ride with me?

I’m planning to replace our back steps with a mini deck and stairs and adding something resembling a pergola. Here’s why I’d like to take on this DIY project:

1. The back door used to be narrower so the back steps were sized appropriately for that door. When we renovated the mud room and beautility room (see here), we replaced the door with a standard 36-inch wide door. This made the stairs too narrow for the door with no room to easily open and walk into the back of the house from the inside. Now that many of our kid’s friends are coming through our house, these stairs seem even more dangerous and less functional than ever.
2. The back of our house is so boring. The front exterior is cute with plenty of curb appeal, but the back is blah with no appeal so I’ve wanted to do something grander here.
3. We priced out something a few years ago but we’re being very conservative with our budget so hiring out for this project isn’t in the cards for a while.
4. This is an opportunity for me to learn some new DIY skills and build confidence as a DIYer.

You definitely can’t tell this from the drawing because I am not an artist by any means, but I’d like to raise the first step to door height and make that a wide and deep platform like a mini deck. Then the stairs would come down from there. I also would like to frame out the space to make it a feature wall and create a type of pergola.

My timeframe for this DIY project is all spring and early summer since I know this will be a lot of trial, error and tears. And many weekends. I plan to do as much work as possible before I have to remove the existing stairs. By then, I’ll know whether I have the skills to continue and remove the stairs and finish the project.

This DIY project is going to be A JOURNEY. Who’s with me?!