I believe it’s been about a year since we decided to build a deck off of our parlor floor. The plan was that I design it, my husband does the measuring and drawings and our architect neighbor files the plans.

The problem is, I’m stuck on step one.

At first I wanted something industrial. Because structural engineer hubby is a bridge guy, I though it would be really cool to have it look like a bridge. He told me that fabricating something from scratch would be pricy, but there is a way to make the posts look bridge-like. But that’s just the base. Do I really want the railing to be thick and industrial too? I don’t know. Do I?

The other option is fancy wrought iron. I’m picturing a Venetian balcony. When I googled images, I was impressed by the French Quarter balconies of New Orleans. This style would go with the house more than industrial, but I worry that it may look too messy because I think I would prefer to go with salvaged materials and we may not get enough matching pieces to go all the way around. What if it’s hodge podge? Could that possibly look cool too? I don’t know. Maybe.

Why is steel base with wood railing not an option? Because it’s just not. I’m not envisioning it at this moment in time. It’s a Brooklyn brownstone, not a country home overlooking a meadow. Not a Hamptons home on the beach. Yeah, I know most people just do wood because it’s simple (we built our own in our first house) but I’m just not feeling it. We will install FSC Ipe tiles on top of the steel “subway grates”, but that’s it. Ipe, like any other exterior wood, starts to look crappy after a few years. IMHO.

BTW, I do like that window in the deck floor in the first photo, don’t you?

Once we figure out the railing, we have to decide what to do underneath the deck. The goal is to be able to let the pets exit through a dog door when we are not around and keep them and the house safe. This means that under the deck will basically be a cage. We don’t want it to look like a prison though.

If modern industrial, we could go with some kind of hard mesh or to make it more interesting, a “lace fence” like above. That would probably cost more than the house itself, plus it’s a little too pretty for my taste.

Or…the antique industrial look could rock. It might be a perfect mix of both. The above photo is Kilmainham Jail in Dublin. It’s now a museum that I’ve visited many times and I love the aesthetic. Hmm, maybe I DO want it to look like a prison.

At this point, perhaps I shouldn’t go crazy over the design and just do a functional, inexpensive deck so we can enjoy it this year.

Oh, I don’t know. What do you think?