Adding a decking area to your garden can turn your outside space into the place to be, particularly during the summertime when the weather is hot and you can make the most of it by spending time outdoors.
You might want to use your decking as a landscaping tool or to be used around a hot tub or a swimming pool. Or just simply somewhere you can enjoy sitting on with a coffee and good book in the sun.
Decking doesn't have to be boring. There are plenty of great decking ideas that will help you make the most of your garden and truly elevate your outdoor space.
Whatever the size of your garden, we've got plenty of decking ideas to help give you some inspiration to transform your garden.
Decking ideas
Take the indoors out
While it’s common to place furniture on your decking, if you want a bit more privacy, what about building a structure to shield you from prying eyes? You can match the colour to your decking or go for a complete contrast like this one.
Tackle irregular shapes
"If your garden is an irregular shape or has sloping ground, using decking can combat this and make every inch of space usable," recommends garden landscaping expert Leigh Barnes from Jacksons Fencing. "Decking creates flat usable space in areas that were previously inaccessible."
Add on a bar
If you don’t want to transform your shed into a bar, just add one to your decking instead! While you can buy them ready-made instead like in this photo, if you’re handy with some tools, you could have a go at making one yourself. Scroll down to find out how you can make use of your leftover decking to create your own bar.
Separate your garden
While your decking may not necessarily require railings, they are a great safety addition to have when little ones are around and also help to separate the area from your garden, creating two distinct spaces. There are lots of different designs you could go with…
…like glass!
If you fancy splurging, what about some gorgeous glass balustrades to surround your decking?
Consider steps
"Groove decking is great for use as steps," says Leigh. "The grooves provide slip resistance and with heavy-duty and non-slip (added lines of aggregate) options are available. Use this in areas that are likely to be used frequently."
Build in some seating
Not only is this fab decking idea a great way of providing a space to sit and admire your garden but it also encompasses planters where you can grow some beautiful plants or flowers too.
Cook alfresco
If you love to cook, consider putting in an outdoor kitchen where you can entertain friends and family and serve up some delicious food. It’s entirely up to you what you decide to include in your kitchen but we’d recommend a BBQ and pizza oven.
Decking ideas: five ways to use up leftover decking
Good quality composite decking doesn’t come cheap, especially if you have a large surface area to cover. As such, it’s important to make the most of your new addition and utilise it to the fullest.
Decking projects will commonly leave you with a variety of leftovers and off-cuts that all too often get discarded or left to gather dust. If this sounds familiar, don’t fall into the same old trap – there is a better way. In fact, we’ve come up with five to get you started!
A great way to make the most of your newest investment is to repurpose any surplus composite decking and put those unwanted boards to good use.
To help get your creative decking juices flowing, here are five ways to use your leftover decking boards and squeeze some extra life out of your unwanted wood.
Display shelves
As simple as it comes, utilising your spare decking boards to create shelves for your outdoor space is virtually effortless. In fact, why haven’t you done it already?
Depending on the amount of decking leftover, there are two main routes to explore when it comes to creating garden shelves with deck boards: either the free-standing option or the wall-mounted option.
Whichever route you take, the subsequent journey is relatively smooth and virtually bump-free. If this tip was in a DIY handbook, it would be on page one – so no excuses!
Despite its simplicity, the results are effective, providing you with a practical platform to use for a variety of items, from potted plants to garden ornaments and anything in between.
Window boxes and planters
For those that love gardening – and flowers in particular – a window box can be a fantastic addition to your outside space, providing an area to grow and cultivate plants, while also gifting your property with a colourful yet natural feature.
Brand new, a typical modestly-sized window box will likely cost anywhere between £30 and £60; however, it’s not unusual to find wooden window boxes on sale for as much as £100 or more for a top-quality design.
If you have a few deck boards left over, you can easily create a wonderful wooden window box just by using your excess boards and a bin bag for the inner lining. The end result can be stunning, brightening up your garden instantly.
Meanwhile, if you have a little more material to play with, why not supersize your window box and go all out with a homemade garden planter to really give your garden some colour and vibrancy?
Birdhouse
When designing your outside space, it’s equally important to think about the environment you're leaving behind after your renovation is complete. After all, the garden is home to more than just the property owners – there’s a whole ecosystem beyond the back door.
As such, it’s important to take care of nature’s visitors whenever they stop by and creating a birdhouse for your garden is a great way to kill two birds with one stone…okay, bad analogy.
Nevertheless, the fact remains: adding a birdhouse to your garden can be a two-fold solution that gives back to nature’s garden-dwellers and makes the most of your leftover decking at the same time.
Attracting wildlife to your garden can make your outside space look like a scene worthy of a postcard with a natural soundtrack that is hard to replicate.
Best of all, a simple birdhouse can be made using just a single board. All you need to do is cut four sides, a base and a roof… just don’t forget to cut an entry hole.
Garden bench
Perhaps the most common design solution for surplus decking is to repurpose those boards as a garden bench. In fact, many will actively plan to incorporate this feature into their original outdoor design.
That being said, if you have missed the boat and the forethinking fleet has set sail without you, don’t despair – it’s not too late to use your excess decking boards to create an impressive decking bench.
While it’s possible to create a truly stunning bench from excess decking materials, it can admittedly be tricky if you’re not well-versed in the art of DIY. Luckily, you don’t even need to be blessed with a single grain of carpentry genius with this handy shortcut.
A few breeze blocks and a couple of deck boards could be all you need to create a unique, shabby-chic seat that looks great and does the job (provided you secure all the components in place).
Similarly, you could very easily apply those principles to turn your unused decking into an outdoor coffee table by using the very same methods, with a few minor tweaks here and there. You would be surprised how effective it can be!
Garden furniture can be expensive at the best of times and even a standard six-foot wooden bench can set you back by hundreds of pounds. With this trick, you can bypass those fees and turn your dormant deck boards into a handy homemade fixture that ticks all the boxes.
Garden bar
A pipe dream for countless homeowners across the country, a home bar is a wish that many have resigned to the confines of fantasy.
However, creating a simple garden bar area is actually a very achievable endeavour that can be achieved with composite decking boards.
Whether you’re looking to create a simple C-shaped stand for serving drinks or a longer, L-shaped table-top to accessorise with bar stools, composite decking can be the perfect material to turn your dreams into a reality.
With that being said, creating a respectably-sized bar area will likely require quite a few boards to create and probably need more boards than you would typically have leftover as surplus materials.
However, that doesn’t mean you have to throw in the bar towel just yet – there are still options for those with a limited supply of excess decking. In fact, a fold-down bar can be created by using just a couple of boards.
All you need to do is cut a few short planks, add a couple of hinges, a latch and a small length of chain for either side. Mount to the sidewall of your choosing and, hey presto, refreshments al fresco!
While it won’t quite be a substitute for your local down the road, it’s undoubtedly a cool addition to your outside space and a great feature to unveil when entertaining guests.