If you are thinking of creating your own deck, consider how you intend to use the space and therefore how this will affect your plans. For example, you might want to use your deck for sunbathing in which case you may want greater privacy from a pergola. For entertaining you may want to include outdoor lighting to extend use of your deck into the evening, or for a children’s play area so you may want extra safety features such as railings.

You should also consider how the rest of the surrounding garden will work with the deck. Hard landscaping materials such as natural stone paving or decorative gravel can work well around decking, whilst situating a deck next to or over water can create a very special effect.

Ensure that you purchase your wood from a reputable supplier who can guarantee that the materials come from a sustainable source and are FSC accredited, to help protect the environment.

Traditionally, decking is a useful design feature for sloping sites where it’s flexibility comes into its own. The split-level look is also a design style you can recreate on a level site by dividing a deck into a series of sections at slightly different heights, with steps leading from one to another.

Another design idea that you can incorporate into your deck is a sunken section. Most decks are raised off the ground leaving space for a lower section to be recessed into the middle. You could then line the interior with wood and built-in benches to create an unusual sunken seating area. Or you could build a sand pit for the children with its own removable wooden cover.

Shape can also be used to create added interest. Curved decks can look really stunning, particularly where other design features in the garden such as borders and lawns also echo the shape of the deck. When incorporating curves into a garden design always try to create broad sweeping curves rather than fiddly twists and turns.

Decks can do more than just replacing the patio. For example the far end of a garden can often provide the ideal location for a deck with a wooden pergola to create a private and secluded seating area. With climbing plants and containers added, it also creates a pleasant focal point when viewed from the house.

The layout of decking boards can also be used creatively. In a narrow garden arranging the boards horizontally across the deck can create an impression of greater width, and shorter gardens can look longer if boards are aligned pointing down the plot.

The most versatile arrangement however is to set the boards on a 45 degree angle, which not only looks most interesting but can also help create a new line of sight in the garden with which other design elements can be aligned.

Another way to add more interest to larger decks is to divide the boards into sections laid at opposing diagonals. Furthermore, curved decks can also be divided in a similar way into triangular segments of boards arranged at slightly different angles.

Many of the more widely available decking materials can sometimes be bright in colour, so to soften the look of new wood you could stain it in a subtle colour wash, or paint it to achieve a distressed look. Choosing colours which echo the décor of your home will create a sense of unity between your interior and outdoor living spaces.

If you are thinking of adding a railing to the edge of your deck, then try sourcing plain wooden balustrades or sleek metal designs as a more subtle and contemporary alternative to some of the over-decorated and elaborate wooden styles that are more commonly available.

Once you have created your deck, it’s time to think about finishing touches. Choose co-ordinating plants and containers to create a sophisticated and stylish look. Contemporary style metal containers can look chic against wood, particularly when planted with eye-catching architectural plants such as grasses or spiky leaved exotics. Glazed terracotta pots in blue, green or aqua can also look striking against a backdrop of wood. Whichever style of container you choose, arrange them in random groups of three or five to achieve a natural effect.

To summarise, decking can be tremendously versatile. Thanks to the ease with which it can be worked you really are limited purely by your imagination. With some advance planning, a little creativity and carefully chosen accessories, you can create a deck that becomes an eye catching design element in your garden.

The following guide aims to give you some ideas and inspiration for creating the perfect patio. Much of the advice can be applied to either creating a new patio from scratch, or giving a mature patio a facelift.

Firstly think about the size of your patio. It needs to be spacious enough to be practical, but without dominating the rest of the garden. You can work out how much patio you’ll need by simply thinking about how you intend to use the space. So if you’ve got a 14 seat outdoor dining table you need to think bigger. If it’s just the two of you, a more modest size patio may do.

The size of the patio also needs to be in proportion to the house and garden. A small terraced garden may only tolerate a patio a few metres in size, whereas a larger plot could comfortably accommodate a series of connecting patio areas.

A patio doesn’t always have to be right outside the back door. Maybe there’s a nicer view from the far end of your garden, or a natural suntrap you’d like to take advantage of. You could even create two patio areas in the garden for morning and evening use, connected by a pathway.

Once you’ve planned your patio, it’s time to build it. There’s a huge choice of landscaping products available from concrete paving to imitation railway sleepers. One material that’s growing in popularity and reducing in price is natural stone paving. It can add character and warmth to a patio, with an increasing choice of unusual and exotic products available from around the world. For example the stone supplier Pavestone now offers ten different colours of natural sandstone, luxurious Turkish Travertine paving and even Mongolian slate.

Most paving suppliers provide useful laying guide’s for their products and it’s well worth taking the time to create an interesting pattern with your paving. The most commonly effective layout is a random pattern created from three to four different sizes of slab. A simple uniform pattern of equal sized paving may suit a smaller Mediterranean style terrace. For extra interest line up your patio at a 45-degree angle to the house, which also then creates opportunities to overlap more than one area of paving to create an eye-catching larger patio.

In a larger patio two contrasting materials can be used, such as stone paving divided into sections with lines of antique red bricks. Gaps in paving can be left, and filled with decorative gravel and hardwearing groundcover plants such as fragrant Corsican Mint, Mentha reqeienii, thyme or the pretty daisy-like Erigeron karkvinskianus.

For overhead shade and privacy you can add a wooden pergola to your patio which is useful if your garden is overlooked, on a new housing development for example. Grow climbers such as Passion Flower or Clematis up and over the woodwork, or you can run a pergola over a patio running along the rear of the house to create the effect of a loggia.

Then it’s time to look at the all-important finishing touches and accessories. Garden lighting can help extend use of your patio right into the evening and can also become a design feature in it’s own right. You can install wall mounted lights, discreet up-lighters hidden in planting or free standing bollard style lights in a range of contemporary materials such as wood, granite, stainless steel and even distressed cast iron.

For the ultimate in outdoor entertainment, you can bring music to your patio to create mood and atmosphere. Outdoor speakers are weatherproof and can be fixed to the wall or hidden discretely in landscaping. Some products, like the new 151 environmental speakers from Bose, can even be sprayed with car paints to match your garden colour scheme and blend into the background.

The most common accessory on any patio is the container plant, with artfully arranged groups of planted pots adding life and colour. Create an eclectic look by planting a mixture of metal, wood and terracotta containers, or even an old ceramic kitchen sink.

Create a more elegant effect by planting glazed containers with delicate ferns and grasses, or eye-catching ornamental specimens like the purple-red Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgold’, beautifully shaped Kilmarnock Willow, Salix caprea ‘Kilmarnock’, or the less hardy olive tree, Olea europaea.

Your patio container plants can have a practical purpose too. By growing a collection of culinary herbs such as mint, coriander, thyme, parsley and chive grown in pots on the patio, you’ve always got fresh seasoning close at hand.

However there can often be a degree of trial and error with coastal gardening – don’t be afraid to try new species and experiment. Sometimes even tender plants can survive near the coast, so take a careful look around other gardens in your area to see if there are specific plants that do well in your local micro-climate.

Protecting your plants from the worst of the weather can be another issue in an exposed seaside location. In this case your first priority should be try and create a windbreak to protect your plants, but which still allows some of the wind through (otherwise it wont last long!). Use wooden trellis fencing attached to well concreted fence posts, or grow or a windbreak of Laurel or Tamarisk.

Many coastal plants such as Sea Kale,  Sea Holly and Valerian should also thrive  in low maintenance gravel gardens as long as they have good drainage. Their striking shapes and foliage can create an eye catching display.

Recommended Coastal Garden Plants:

Here are our top suggestions of plants for coastal gardens…

Alcea rosea, Hollyhock, Perennial
Armeria maritime ‘Alba’, Thrift, Perennial
Armeria maritime ‘Bloodstone’, Thrift, Perennial
Armeria maritime ‘Vindictive’, Thrift, Perennial
Aucuba japonica ‘Rozannie’, Japanese Laurel, Evergreen shrub
Centranthus ruber, Red Valerian, Perennial
Centranthus ruber ‘Albus’, White Valerian, Perennial
Crambe maritime, Sea Kale, Perennial
Eryngium bourgatii, Sea Holly, Perennial
Eryngium x oliverianum, Sea Holly, Perennial
Eryngium planum ‘Bethlehem’, blue eryngo, Perennial
Fuchsia magellanica, Fuchsia, Deciduous shrub
Fuchsia riccartonii, Fuchsia, Deciduous shrub
Hebe albicans, Hebe, Evergreen Shrub
Hebe salicifolia, Hebe, Evergreen Shrub
Hebe ‘White Gem’, Hebe, Evergreen Shrub
Hydrangea involucrate ‘Hortensis’, Hydrangea, Deciduous shrub
Laurus nobilis, Bay Tree, Evergreen Shrub/Tree
Limonium bellidifolium, Sea Lavender, Perennial
Pinus nigra laricio, Corsican pine, Evergreen Shrub/Tree
Pinus sylvestris,  Scots pine, Evergreen Shrub/Tree
Prunus spinosa, Blackthorn, Deciduous shrub
Quercus ilex, Holm oak, Evergreen tree
Salix alba, White Willow, Tree
Sambucus nigra, Common elder, Deciduous shrub
Silene maritime, Sea Campion, Perennial
Tamarix ramosissima, Tamarisk, Deciduous shrub
Tamarix tetrandra, four-stamen Tamarisk, Deciduous shrub
Jasminum officinale, common Jasmin, Climber