Hi meegantas, we have used a product called mill-wood, plastic style deck, a better product than mod wood that scratches quite easily. We have had it down over a year now, still looks marvellous, we hose it down or sweep it, furniture movement has not seemed to damage the product, lots of shades to choose from. The builder recommended it to us, I had never heard of it. He personally did not want to use the mod wood brand. The millwood is used at the London zoo apparently....it is made in England .. Just after we laid ours our city council used same product and colour on beach board walk..I will post a pic Pic 1. Just laid. Pic 2 & 3, as it is now. Pic 4 on front verandah...we sort of fell in love with it

I have been deep cleaning and oiling my deck for the past 10 years after we installed new wood decking. Twice a year I deep clean the wood deck using a hot sodium perchloride (cheapest Oxybleach from Woolies) wash - 1 cup to 5 L very hot water to activate. Add the hot water to the rectangluar bucket first, then add the oxybleach and stir to dissolve completely for 3 mins. I wear my wellies to apply a generous application of oxybleach with a soft broom to the entire wood deck, then come back and scrub the wood with a stiff bristle broom. This will melt away all the grim and really deep clean the wood. Then hose off or gernie off all the suds and grim. Leave to dry for 48 hours before oiling the deck. I oiled once a year for the first 2 years and now the wood is well saturated I only oil every 2 years. To oil and preserve the wood I use Cutek CD50 ( a good selection of tint colours are available if you want to stain the wood to your preferred colour). My deck is still like new after 10 years. This is a brilliant cheap method of deep cleaning and preserving wood decks. Good luck!

Hi. I agree painting the posts & blocks (if you need to keep them for structural support) white. Another idea if you are handy is to build a timber rail and balustrade (painted white?) in place of the lattice. The lattice does provide some shade lower down, but maybe you want a different look. Your bricks are a good colour, and I like your Acapulco chairs and the macrame pot hanger. I think you could run with those colours (along with the white paint idea) and pull off a Mexican theme in this space.

The newer shutters are much more modern and feel like they make everything lighter! Good work!