I have miles of decking at two houses. All timber when put in the Australian sun will suffer. When building our beach house we decided to go for Spotted Gum and let it grey. Why fight it? We applied Cutek, and will on a regular basis. At our main house we have lots of Merabu or Quilla. Will not grey the same, and leaches lots of red stain. Cheap, but would not use again. What ever you use, use a good quality oil that seeps deep into the wood not a traditional stain/or top finishing product.

I guess some people associate 'beach' homes with weatherboard cladding, inside wall panelling, and wooden floor boards to give that relaxed vibe. I personally thing stone would also look effective and require less maintenance in comparison to the wood. Remember, sand has a tendency to scratch floorboards, therefore, over time, it may require some TLC to restore to original condition. Stone would simply require a vacuum and mop and would give a seamless look to the home.

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!

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