Top Ten Decking and Outdoor Design Trends
10. Moving the Indoors Outdoors. Extending the square footage of usable living space continues to be a major design trend. Decks and patios lead the charge for creating inviting outdoor spaces for relaxation and entertainment. Making homes more usable and inviting makes sense, particularly with the rising trend of ‘stay-cations’ and home entertainment.
9. Gazebos, Pergolas and ‘3 Season Rooms’ 
are all the rage. Fully covered or partially covered outdoor ‘rooms’ and structures allow homeowners to use these outdoor spaces during inclement weather and extend the ‘outdoor season’ of their home.
8. Fire Pits, Outdoor Fireplaces and Chimineas are making outdoor living spaces more inviting. Nothing creates that feeling of community like the primal warmth of a fire. Using stone, masonry or fire resistant hardwood species like Ipe and Cumaru can create an appealing outdoor space.
7. Consumers continue to move away from pressure treated wood decking. While pressure treated lumber continues to be the longest lasting, low cost material for deck joists and deck framing components, pressure treated decking becomes less and less used every year as a decking material (the decking surface itself).
6. Low priced composite decking materials 
are becoming virtually extinct. With all the reported product failures of low end composite decking, consumers are searching for higher quality materials for their decking. Consumers recognize, like pressure treated decking, the low price of low end composite decking products does not compensate for their poor performance.
5. Architects and design professional professionals are moving towards all natural, sustainable materials for their outdoor designs. High density hardwood decking is being specified more regularly for decking and other outdoor structures where long lasting natural building materials are required.
4. A major component of sustainable design focuses on Life Cycle assessment. Life cycle, by definition includes all the costs of building, maintaining, operating and disposing of an asset or structure over its lifetime. Architects strive to maintain a balance between usable lifetime and project budget to make good design decisions. In Life Cycle Cost Analyses, high density hardwood decking species such as Ipe, Cumaru and Garapa offer the best investment over the life cycle of a deck or outdoor structure.
3. FSC Certified Machiche decking is being embraced by the design and green building communities as a sustainable hardwood decking material and outdoor wood species that qualifies for LEED projects.
2. Cumaru and Garapa Decking are being recognized for their performance and 
affordability. Both Garapa and Cumaru offer cost savings as well as durability and are being specified more frequently by design professionals as well as reputable builders who don’t want call-backs
1. Ipe decking continues to be the most respected decking material. Whether you are building an outdoor deck, gazebo, pergola, covered porch, walkway or other outdoor structure, Ipe decking and Ipe lumber have the best performance and reputation of all decking materials.
Learn more about Ipe decking and other outdoor wood decking material options by following any of the links below:
Comparative Decking Material Pricing
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