Decking for summer - Some design ideas

The perfect garden needs to have comfortable areas in which you can relax, soak up the sun (well, we can but hope), entertain and generally enjoy the outdoors.  Adding some stylish decking is great for al fresco socialising as well as giving the impression of more room to the house.

If you’re drawn to a classic feel and look, you can create a gorgeous al fresco dining area by adding decking and then surrounding it with raised flower beds. Wooden decking is popular and also eco-friendly as it lets water drain through to the soil underneath. You can use this style decking to make your garden look longer too, by using narrow boards that run end to end.

To add to the ambience and relaxed dining, you could also add an outdoor sofa which gives you the option of chilling out in the garden even if it’s a bit cooler or damper. If you’re buying an outdoor sofa to sit on your decking, though, we’d advise you to think about adding an all-weather ­canopy for obvious reasons!

Add a more sophisticated evening feel with subtle lighting that will enhance the whole garden. There are so many different lighting ideas to choose from, you really can experiment with whatever you think will look good. Try adding a few mounted spotlights, candles and lanterns, even ostentatious chandeliers can work – try wrapping overhead beams  with greenery and pretty flowers, strings of ornamental lights and tiki torches in surrounding borders.



You can jazz up existing decking with one of the attractive stains and paints available. There’s a whole range of products on the market that can be used to stain wood, so check out your local garden centre for inspiration. This gives you a really good way to enhance decking; and also introducing more colour into your garden. When you’re looking for the perfect paint, imagine how it will look with the existing garden, for example you could match it to existing fencing and furniture or deliberately go for a contracting look.

Another way to brighten up an area of decking is by quite literally mixing it up a bit. You can make a feature out of it by mixing up the widths and styles of the boards and coming up with your own unique design.

If you don’t want a decked area right next to the house you could even think about adding a freestanding area which can give you a ‘den’ – or a secluded reading and thinking place right at the bottom of the garden.

If you are looking for ideas and want to talk over inspiration with the experts, come and chat to the expert landscapers at John Lessels.