So Kirk and the guys have been really busy over the past few weeks tearing down what was left of the old back porch and clearing it away as well as starting the big job of building it all back up again.

I on the other hand have been busy looking for ideas/ inspiration for what we should build back there (in between working full time and taking care of the kids of course!). We’ve blended ideas from 3 different sources. The first being our neighbours- they just built a stunning deck out of non knotty cedar (or clear cedar). Their boards run horizontal and they incorporated built in planters as well as bench seating into their deck design. We loved the look of the cedar but decided to go with regular cedar because the clear was double/triple the price.

The second source being earth inc. - a landscape design firm based here in Toronto. They do some very beautiful and modern stuff. I looked through their portfolio on line and fell in love with one of the back gardens/decks that they designed for some lucky person out there.

Here are 2 pictures of it:

We are planning on re-creating these types of walls for the sides of our deck as well as the staircase which will run down the right hand side of the front of our deck.

The 3rd source of inspiration came from Cecconi Simone - another amazing Canadian design firm. They have their portfolio on line and I found a back deck/garden that they created which incorporates beautiful planter boxes into a deck. We’ve decided to create planters that will be 2 or 3 tiered running alongside the staircase.

Here’s some photos of how it looks in their design:

We’re creating things on the fly so we’ll see how it all pans out!