deck — Home and Garden Diva

Why Should You Install A Deck In Your Backyard?

A big backyard can be like a blank canvas. Unfortunately, though, you may not feel creative enough to fill that canvas! If you’re looking for a great way to turn your backyard into a fun, stylish place to be, you need outdoor decking.

A deck can be the perfect centrepiece for your yard. Once it’s installed, you can surround it with landscaping or even a garden, so that you can inject all of the various colours and textures that you want. The area will look great, and it will be practical, too! After all, everyone loves hanging out in the backyard for a barbecue, and outdoor decking gives you the perfect space to host all of your friends and family. From it, you’ll be able to enjoy warm afternoons and great sunsets!

Best of all, outdoor decking is so versatile that you can fit it into any decor. No matter what type of home you have, what type of yard you’ve got, or what type of budget you have to work with, a deck can match it. Even if you’ve got a ton of hills or uneven patches in your yard, you can make outdoor decking work!

Think you can’t enjoy a deck because your yard isn’t big enough? Think again! Sure, you may not have a sprawling area to host giant parties, but you can definitely create a spot that injects a little bit of life into your plain ol’ backyard. In fact, it could be just the thing you need to add some dimension and some much-needed extra space to your smaller home!

OK, so you want outdoor decking… But does that mean you have to spend a ton of money on a professional builder?

No way!

Outdoor decking is so versatile that you can build it yourself if you want. If you’ve got some woodworking experience, building your own deck can be a great way to spend your free time. All you need is a pencil and some paper to draw out some designs. Once you measure your yard, you’ll be able to figure out how much wood you need to build the deck of your dreams.

What if you’re not that handy?

There are tons of timber decking specialists out there, who can give you the expertise you need, without charging you an arm and a leg. They can help you figure out which type of wood is right for your deck — soft or hard — along with the perfect level of treatment you need to create a deck for the long haul.

Whether you decide to do the work yourself or call in an expert, you’ll be happy to know that the outdoor decking possibilities are endless. As long as you plan ahead carefully, you can wind up with the perfect finished product. In fact, an addition like this can add some serious value to your home — not to mention all of the “style points” you’ll get from it.

Bottom line — a deck can make your house feel like home again!

Sam Nathan is a freelance writer. His interests include sports, travel and health.

photo by:

Rhino Deck: Making Your Outdoor Space Come Alive

by The Diva

The right landscaping can add a beautiful look and a lush, tranquil feel to your deck space. It can also provide valuable functions like shade and privacy. What’s more, outdoor gardens can provide herbs, fruits and vegetables.

Figuring out what landscaping will work best for your deck space can be a challenge. Rhino Deck offers the following ideas and advice for turning a bare bones outdoor structure into a garden oasis.

First, consider the function your landscaping will serve. Do you want to provide shade? Privacy? Are you looking to cover up gaps or spaces? Or do you just want to accent your space with colorful foliage and flowers?

If you’re looking to provide shade, building or remodeling your deck space around or near an existing tree with a large canopy is one option. Adding tall trees around an existing deck is another. You can also consider installing lattice panels in the sunniest spots, and training vines to climb to create a living wall. Rhino Deck offers durable, beautiful composite lattice panels ideal for just such a purpose.

Vine-covered lattice structures are also excellent for providing privacy. You can also create privacy by artfully placing potted plants in the deck’s interior to cover spaces between rails. For some extra fun and function, choose fruiting vines like tomatoes or peppers, or bushy herbs like lavender or rosemary to create your own vegetable or herb garden. For lower or platform decks, tall shrubs or a combination of trees and shrubs of varying heights can be planted around the perimeter to act as a natural screen.

If you’re simply looking to enhance your deck view with a beautiful garden space, the options are really only limited by your budget, your space and your imagination. Linear gardens work really well around decks, but a free-form garden with sprawling native plants or lush and dense tropical warm-weather plants can look just as lovely, and give you the feeling of being in a secluded natural setting.

Once you’ve decided what function you want your landscaping to serve, you must figure out what types of plants you’ll need to accomplish your goals. To do so, first study the sunlight and rainwater patterns of your deck space. Plants that need drier roots will need to be planted away from deck edges where water collects. Plants that require partial shade will thrive in your deck’s shadier spots, but wilt in full sun.

After you’ve determined what types of plants will be most successful in your space, you can begin choosing specific plants that meet your color, size and style preferences. Then you can map out where each plant will be placed. All that follows is to prep the area, plant your garden and watch your yard come to life.

If you need help designing or implementing a deck landscaping plan, contact a landscape architect or a local nursery for a consultation. For help building or remodeling a deck that perfectly complements and integrates with your landscaping, visit the Rhino Deck website. Rhino Deck offers the best composite decking materials. The company also provides a list of qualified builders and installers in your area.

4 Less Expensive Material Choices For Your Home

by Trish

We are all wanting to make improvements to our homes. But they can be so expensive! Of course we still want high quality when it comes to our homes. But are there less expensive options that will make it more possible for us to be able to actually afford these home improvements that we’ve been wanting to do for so long?

Well you’re in luck! There are definitely some fake out materials that you can use in your home. These are less expensive options, but they will still give you the quality you need to show the pride you take in your home.

Here are 4 less expensive material choices for your home improvement projects:

1. Real Wood Instead of Trex

For Your: Deck

Trex is a great, high quality, long lasting material for decks. It is water resistant, fade resistant, stain resistant, insect resistant, splinter resistant, etc. But it is also very expensive (almost double of plain wood). Instead of saving up for years to be able to afford a deck made out of trex, instead make your deck out of wood.

Yes, some of the downsides to wood are true: it can fade, splinter, rot, etc. But if you make sure to take care of it you should be safe from those potential downsides. Just purchase a high quality wood, and make sure to seal it every couple years, and you should be good to go.

2. Faux Wood Blinds Instead of Real Wood

For Your: Window Coverings

We all love the look and feel of wood blinds in our homes. Real wood blinds are beautiful. They come in a large variety of colors, they are sturdy, and they create a great warmth in your home. But, just like other premium material options, they can be expensive. That is where faux wood blinds come in. Faux wood blinds, sometimes also known as “alternative wood blinds,” are a great alternative to real wood blinds. Unlike many other “cheap” material substitutions for different areas of your home, faux wood blinds absolutely don’t look cheap. In fact, they are a very high quality looking substitution.

And not only are faux wood blinds less expensive than real wood blinds, but they also resist moisture much better than real wood blinds. So you not only get the money savings associated with purchasing the faux wood instead of real wood blinds, but the can also last longer.

3. Engineered Hardwood Flooring Instead of Solid Hardwood

For Your: Flooring

Hardwood flooring instantly makes a home look elegant and classy. But there are certain drawbacks to solid hardwood. For one, you guessed it, it’s expensive. On top of that, it is bad for our environment. There are unnecessarily large amounts of timber that are wasted in the production of solid wood flooring.

With the more premium brands of engineered hardwood flooring, you can still get the quality look and feel of solid hardwood flooring, but for less than you would expect to pay. And because of how some of these cross-engineered floors are created, there is a lot less waste associated in creating this flooring option. On top of that, this flooring is also stronger and lasts longer than traditional solid hardwood.

4. Corian Instead of Granite

For Your: Counters

Believe it or not, granite counters didn’t gain their popularity until around 10 years ago. Before that, Corian was the most commonly used material for countertops. Of course granite has gained popularity in homes, especially high quality custom homes. But Corian absolutely shouldn’t be counted out. It is still a great, very nice looking option for countertops… but it comes at a fraction of the cost of granite.

Corian is quite a bit less expensive than granite. But that is not the only upside to this material. It can be seamed invisibly, it comes in a large variety of colors, and you have much more shaping and styling options than you have with granite.

If you are used to granite counters do keep in mind that you must treat Corian a bit differently than granite. You can’t cut directly on Corian, can’t put hot pots and pans directly on it, etc. But if you are willing to make the few adjustments, this is a great (much less expensive) alternative you should look into.

Nicole is a writer for Lifewood floors. They are a company that offers engineered hardwood flooring with style, quality and sustainability.

Let Your Imagination Run Wild With 5 Cool Ways To Change Your Garden This Summer

by Trish

Don’t tell me you’ve not looked out at the garden recently and tried to come up with some amazing ways to make it better. It’s the same every year when you look out of the window and there is snow lying everywhere. You start to get a little depressed because you can’t go outside and your imagination starts to run wild. Have you ever done something about it before, or does next winter come around before you have the chance to do anything?

You should make this year different because you will feel great when the sun is out and you spend time outside. The last thing you want is to be sitting in a garden that you don’t think looks nice. It completely ruins the moment, so you shouldn’t let it. Think about everything you would like to do and run with your favorite idea before it’s too late. We can even look at some ideas together so you can get that imagination of yours running wild again.

Add some decking

You could choose a little corner of your garden and add some decking, or you could even have some running off the house. When it’s nice outside you could put out a table and chairs so the family can sit around and eat their meals while relaxing in the sun. You could always put the furniture on the grass, but when you have decking it looks a lot better. If you had a nice seat out there you could also sit and read books when you’re not at work.

Get rid of the crap

You might have some things inside your garden that you don’t want to be there anymore. If it’s something big like a hut you maybe haven’t got rid of it because it’s too much work. This year could be different and you could go outside and start knocking it down this weekend. Get rid of everything else in your garden that is making it look a mess. Even if you don’t replace anything it will still look a lot better when the crap is gone.

A kid’s playhouse

If you have young children you might want to do something nice for them because they will be using the garden a lot more than you during the summer. You’ll have to think about the kinds of things they might like. You could put a playhouse in the corner and they will love it whether they are a boy or a girl. If you think back to when you were a child I bet it’s something you loved. You could even turn it into a tree house if your child is a little older.

Let there be light

Even though the sun sticks around longer in the evenings during summer it won’t be there all night. Eventually it will be gone and your garden won’t be suitable to spend any time in unless you add some lighting. When your garden is light up it looks beautiful and you can stay outside as late as you want. You have a huge number of options available to you and perhaps it’s best if you looked hard before you decided how you would light the place up.

Grow some vegetables

If you have enough time to spare you could take up a new hobby. It’s quite enjoyable growing your own vegetables and eating something you have grown yourself always tastes a little better. A nice little vegetable patch in the corner of the garden will look great and it could come in very handy. When you’re cooking dinner you can run outside and pick something straight out of the ground if it’s ready.

Attached Images:

License: Creative Commons image source
License: Creative Commons image source
License: Creative Commons image source

The author of this article, Sharon Anderson works for Country Cubbies. Country Cubbies is Australia’s leading cubby housemanufacturer with a huge range of cubby houses and children’s play forts.

Why Should You Install A Deck In Your Backyard?

Rhino Deck: Making Your Outdoor Space Come Alive