Decking is not something that’s easy to swap and change once it’s installed, so it’s important that you pick a shade that you’ll love for years to come.
Nowadays, decking comes in a huge variety of colours and styles. From boards that look and feel like real wood to contemporary boards in bold and unusual colours, your options are really endless.
So, how do you choose the right colour decking for your garden? Well, there are a few different things you can do to help make the decision easier. If you want to find out more, just keep reading.
Choose a colour group
Most decking shades can be categorised into a larger colour group. Natural, wood-like shades are usually browns while more contemporary colours include greys and whites. Each colour category might contain several different shades, finishes and variations, but choosing one or two of these broader categories will give you a starting point for your deck design.
Complement your home
A great way to ensure you choose a colour that will look great in your garden is to pick a shade that matches or complements the colour of your home.
If you have a modern home with black and white features, you may want to recreate that in your deck by choosing something bold. Similarly, if your home features natural textures and colours you may want to emulate that by choosing something with a more natural wood appearance. Either way, you can never go wrong when creating a space that’s coherent in both look and feel.
Stick to one tone
Those of you who studied colour theory at school may know that undertones play an important part in determining how one colour will look against another. Colours with similar undertones complement each other perfectly.
Yellow, brown and red undertones (commonly found in brown decking) are warm and therefore complement other warm colours. On the other hand, blue, green and purple undertones lend themselves to cool colours. Grey decking can be made with a balance of warm and cool undertones so that you can create a neutral deck.
See also: Drainage Dilemmas – Common Reasons For Blocked Drains
Mix and match
If you’re still not sure which type of decking to choose for your garden, why not combine a few different shades? There’s nothing to stop you from creating a completely unique decking pattern that suits your aesthetic perfectly.
One of the most striking deck designs is called a picture-frame. This is where the centre of the deck is made using one shade, but the perimeter of the deck is added in a completely different shade. Choosing a design like this will make your new deck more of a focal point in your garden and will save you having to pick just one shade if there are a few that you like!
Choose boards that won’t need staining
There’s a common pet-peeve that comes with choosing timber decking. The colour never lasts. The stain or varnish applied to the surface will look beautifully vibrant when the deck is installed, but after a short while in the elements it will start to break down and fade away.
No one likes the thought of sanding, staining and sealing their deck every year just to keep the colour looking good. It’s expensive, it takes a lot of time and it never looks perfectly even.
That’s why we’re recommending that you give composite decking a try. When composite deck boards are created, the colour pigments are dispersed throughout the board itself, so there’s no varnish or stain that can fade away.
Once the boards have been made, they’re capped with a polymer sleeve to further protect the colour and surface. This guarantees the colour of your composite decking is the colour it will stay for years to come.
