Outdoor renovations the budding trend: Five decks to be inspired by

Jennifer DukeDecember 7, 2020

The Australian love for the outdoors, and for outdoor entertaining, never ceases to amaze. As such, it appears that the backyard is in many property owners’ sights as the area to renovate for lifestyle and for value-adding purposes.

Canstar Blue, a consumer ratings house, surveyed more than 2,500 people in their annual home and garden research to ask about renovations and future intentions, with 25% of home owners that answered having already renovated their yard over the last three years.

Another 38% of the 1,503 home owners, said that they were considering undertaking external renovations.

Bathrooms were then on the list, with 20% having undertaken improvements over the past three years. Two in five also had an intention to renovate this room.

Those in Queensland, where the climate is sunnier, were most likely to have renovated their yard, at 29%. Meanwhile, in Tasmania and West Australia, the figure sat at just 17%.

Of work undertaken, the most popular items were the following:

Decking or paving: 45%

Repainting: 38%

Changes to lighting: 32%

Interestingly, despite some claims, adding lawn or turf was not mentioned within the top three.

In the bathroom, common upgrades included:

Taps and sinks: 72%

Repainting: 69%

Replacing showers and baths: 66%

Gen Y were the homeowners that were most into DIY-ing, with 47% saying they had done the renovations themselves, compared to Baby Boomers, 40%, and Gen X, 41%.

Canstar Blue’s Amy Partington said that it appears little is off limits and that we’re still a nation of eager renovators.

“The research also shows that a large proportion of people are doing their work themselves, particularly younger people who may have scrimped and saved for their first home. With this in mind it’s little surprise that consumers are turning to the Internet to research the equipment they should use and to uncover all the advice they can to avoid costly mistakes,” Partington said.

Decking is certainly popular at present and is likely to be on many homeowners' minds as the weather remains hot and the outdoors look ever more tempting. Similarly, new products allow decks to be built even more easily and with less maintenance than previously. There are a number of materials now that also create decks that never rot, as well as a vast selection of colours and styles.

See over page for five homes with inspirational decks

 


Five inspiring deck designs

When planning your own outdoor decking, it's worth looking to properties that have got it "right" for inspiration. Here are five current listings that have something particularly special in the way they use their decks.

 

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Seamlessly blending the indoor and outdoor space, the expansive deck on this home provides a fantastic outdoor entertainment area. As the home boasts a 180 degree bushland and water outlook over the Lane Cove River, this is a great way to take advantage of the views.

 

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Wrapped around the sizable pool, and providing views of the solar heated pool, gardens and vegetable patch, it’s also located under the right amount of shade for comfort. The cut outs for the deck are an unusual but nice feature, allowing trees and plants integrate with the deck.

With a barbecue, and right next to the kitchen and loungeroom spaces, it’s a great functional space.

 

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This decking, which is both inside and out, is a modern, stylish approach that is favoured by many. This is all about flow, and really changing the definition of where the house ends and the garden begins.

 

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Combining the deck with the transparent glass pool fence provides an excellent useable space that isn’t disjointed by the safety requirements. While the use of furniture here helps define a sitting space, clever positioning of other garden attire can turn the space into something completely different very quickly.

 

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Providing an extra meal area, and a through-way, this unusual use of decking is elegant, neat, and again blends the concept of where the “house” ends. The main bedroom also has its own private deck. 

 

Have you added a deck or changed your yard? Send in your pictures and ideas to: jduke@propertyobserver.com.au

 


Jennifer Duke

Jennifer Duke was a property writer at Property Observer

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