Deck Details: Before and After

 Sometimes it's hard for me to remember what this place looked like when we purchased it three years ago 

because so much has changed...

but we wanted the house to remain a simple ranch house
 and not something contrived and silly;
that is also the case with the landscaping

 The latest project involving the evolution of the landscape design is the addition of this really large deck which runs the entire length of the back of the house 

 It gives us an additional 1800 square feet of outdoor living space

 which we so needed.
The weather here is really mild for much of the year and being outside is part of the experience of living in the country

The deck has a simple railing 

which mimics the ranch fencing 

which surrounds many of the planters

 and the gravel driveway and entries 

 This is the rear of the house "before" with an enclosed porch...
when we first started thinking about what we wanted for this property in terms of surfaces we never thought about decking.... but now those two large oak trees are nestled in the center of the big redwood deck!

 This area is now the English rose 

Parterre garden area

Designing and constructing landscaping on a property this large 

with this many large protected trees is difficult...and I really believe that it takes years for a yard to mature and grow into a great landscape

There is a wonderful article in this months Veranda about Molly Chappellet and her amazing garden in the Napa Valley

If you have the magazine, read it!

I embrace her philosophy about listening to the land
 and not having some grand design that needs to be followed to the letter 

 Living on a property with 20 plus, 300 year old oak trees is really amazing...you really feel like the custodian of something wonderful and spiritual, but it's also a lot of work

 We have an arborist here about twice each year to inspect the trees,

 to trim and lace out the dead stuff

We take great care to water correctly too
because the oaks can die very quickly with water at the bases

 The two trees in the photo above were barely visible when we first saw this house.
It was a mess of over grown shrubs and ivy...
Now the oaks are healthy and clean
with the veggie beds, lavender garden and lawn surrounding them

another "before" with the dry patchy grass and weird patios, 

but it sure seemed like  it had potential to us....

a decking project this size is pretty time consuming 

and takes a good layout 

especially trying to include two huge trees into the plan

 it also takes a ton of lumber!

and finally

 here is how we delt with the trees coming through the decking...I was thinking of just a simple cut out of some sort buy my contractor came up with this
clean hexagon trim idea 

 the railing floats on the inside of the deck,

 so there are no visible bolts or screws

 I added a nice over sized landing on an angle for pots and flowers and it really helps to invite you to come on up and sit under the trees...

 the west corner of the lot has yet to be worked on but

 we have some ideas for this nice sunny spot and there is a gorgeous huge oak in that corner...actually one of my favorites on the property

this weekend we plan to work in the garden

and hopefully we will take some time

to listen to the land

happy gardening