People are staying in their Toronto homes longer these days and as a result they’re constantly on the lookout for things that will make the home a more interesting, fulfilling place to be. One result of this desire to get more out of the domestic experience is that backyard decks have taken off in popularity and the complexity and sophistication of their design is today far beyond anything most of us knew just 20 years ago. One characteristic of much contemporary deck design is the inclusion of various built in features and in this post we’ll look at some of the most exciting of those.
Consider These Built in Features for Your Deck Design
Your standard deck can be a great place to stretch out on a folding chair and catch some sun. But why stop there? What if your deck could also be a place where you cook gourmet meals, watched movies with friends or took a relaxing soak while enjoying the view? It can be if you incorporate some built in features into the deck design, such as:
- A Grille: You could roll out the charcoal grille every time you want to enjoy a burger on your deck or you could build a gas grille and countertops right into the deck structure and prepare gourmet dishes for your guests. Few other components separate the contemporary deck from its predecessor like the built in grille.
- Benches: Seating is always an issue with a deck. Even if you have beautiful new all-weather furniture you’ll still wind up needing more places for people to sit during large parties. Simply dragging beach chairs out to the deck is not a great option because of the way they gobble up space. A better solution is to build bench seating into the deck design. When they aren’t in use you can use these flat areas to host potted plants.
- Planters: Speaking of plants… if you really want to use the deck as a transitional area between the home interior and the yard you can build planters into the deck itself and populate them with local floral. This will set the stage for the backyard experience while adding colour and texture to the deck environment.
- Lighting: Incorporating fixed lights right into the deck structure will make it seem more like a typical room than an afterthought affixed to the outside of the house. Line the deck stairs with LED lights and add accents that shine upward on the columns of the railings or shine down from an overhead trellis to create area lighting.
- A Fire pit: The fire pit is more than your ordinary built in feature in that it will take a high degree of design preparation and must be carefully constructed to eliminate fire hazards. Once in place though it will give your deck 3 season capability by providing the warmth of the camp fire for family and friends.
- The hot tub: Add a built in hot tub and go from 3 season capability to 4 season. Just make sure your deck is structurally capable of handling the load because each cubic meter of water weighs a ton. You’ll also want the rim of the tub to be 18-24” above the level of the deck in order to stave off the possibility of people walking into the tub inadvertently.
Built in features can turn ordinary decks into deluxe environments for enjoyment and relaxation. Call the deck design team at Toronto Custom Decks today for more information about building a deck that will change the way your experience your home.