Wood Deck And Pergola Project
This post is all about planning for our new wood deck and pergola project. The design is going to be really simple, with clean lines and bit more of modern feel than you might expect. I’ll explain why below, and share some photos for reference!
Hello friends! I’m finally grabbing a few minutes to share our new wood deck and pergola plans with you! I’ve meant to get to this for weeks & weeks. Thanks for being patient with me. We are doing this 100% DIY, so it’s taking a bit of time. Jim is so very busy at his real job, but he’s been working on it every weekend and some week nights too.
The last time you saw our deck, I was sharing some Simple Tips & Ideas For Creating An Outdoor Room [click here for more of that], and it looked something like this.
What you couldn’t really see, was that along the sides, the deck was falling in towards the center a bit — see photo below. Jim’s learned so much since he built this deck 14 years ago, and we’ll be addressing that issue with the new build.
Other than the composite deck being a bit faded, and the fact that I never liked the color from day one, that actual material was still in really good shape structurally. But since we needed to dismantle everything to rebuild it, it was perfect time to re-imagine the whole thing!
We started off with the demo of the old composite deck. Austin was a champ and totally rocked the deck demo himself. He was really careful with the dismantling, and we were able to pass almost every board on to a friend who was super excited to get it! It was in great shape (other than some fading) and it felt so good to keep it out of the landfill, and also to gift it to someone who will create their own deck with it. The guys had it loaded up lickety split, and in turn, that left room for our new lumber to be delivered.
As usual, we are dealing with unique circumstances. We won’t have a fresh build on level ground. Oh no… that would be way too easy. Our property slopes, and we will be using the existing concrete retaining/structure as a footprint again.
To completely demo what’s there, and replace everything with an all new retaining material, back fill and level everything out would be about $10,000 and that’s simply not something we are prepared to throw our money at, so we are working with what we’ve got. I’ll share some of the build process in another post, but for know I thought we’d get into the new design!
As far as sharing our design plans, this is when I wish I knew how to use some fancy program to mock it up for you! Instead, Jim and I came up with our design sitting in deck chairs out back and talking it out.
I knew I wanted to stay simple. Neither our home nor The Little Cottage are fancy at all, and I didn’t want some over-done deck and pergola with a visually massive weight that would look completely out of place in our space. Now I love the style with all the details and lots of layers. Say… in the Hampton’s. But in our backyard? Not so much.
I’m not crazy about this color, but the scale is similar. The location looks commercial, I could not locate a source.
So we came up with our design… and then I scoured the internet to find some pictures that might sort of look like what we are building. Kind of backwards right? Thank you, it’s a gift.
I was able to find a few images by searching “Modern Pergola”. I didn’t know we were building a Modern Pergola… but apparently we are.
It was actually pretty difficult to find a simple wood pergola, on a wood deck, that was even close to what we are doing. So these images just offer a general feel for the design we’ll be sharing when we are done!
SOURCE Photographer Brian Walsh
I had however, considered outdoor curtains since I’ll have a PERGOLA to mount hardware on! So I was thrilled to find the above images.
SOURCE – Houzz
Our pergola will be beefier, but I thought this design felt fresh, and it looks pretty beginner friendly too. The black hardware gives it a modern feel.
SOURCE – Visit Tiffany at Pretty Real for details!
Marian says
Hi Shannon,
I love the pergola with the slanted slats above. I think it would provide a little more shade. I feel that I get a little too much sun when I sit outside under our pergola in the hot summer. Our slats are rectanglar. Im sure your pergola will be beautiful.
Shannon Fox says
Yes that one is beautiful. When properly positioned in conjunction with how the sun hits, the slant can provide extra sun protection.
Ours will be straight, but they will be much deeper, and with how the sun hits at it’s peek, they should be perfect.
I like a sunny day, in the shade 😉 haha
Shannon Chastaine says
These are great examples of the “modern pergola”. I learned something new! We built a pergola at our house in Idaho after extending the patio and it became one of my favorite places in the world. I actually really miss that place . . . sigh . . . and I am excited for you guys to get yours built. You will love it!
Shannon Fox says
Hi Shannon! We had one the length of our home when we lived in Ca. It was essential. I miss it as well, that backyard was beautiful. With full brick patios and walkways…
Hope you are WELL 🙂
Take care, Shannon