Creative Decks

Your Outdoor Living Specialist

"Design Drawings and Construction Plans"

Framingham, MA

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Decks

Front Entry Decks That Impress

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The entrance to your home communicates so much about your family and your sense of style the world. From warm and inviting to confident and classical, there’s a front entry deck that’s ideal for you. Here’s what you need to know when choosing your front entryway deck design.

Details Matter, Inside and Out: An entrance way is a transition point, bringing people in from the wide, wild world into the comfortable embrace of your space. Small details matter, from the choice of light fixture and seating positioned just inside the door to the special exterior flourishing your custom deck builders can provide.

Smart Builders Do Interesting Things: Covered entrance way decks are highly desirable, given Framingham’s wild weather. Arched and peaked deck roofs are intriguing, high end details – but you need a skilled builder to make them happen. If this type of feature is important to you, make sure to interview your custom deck contractor ahead of time, and ask to see any decks with similar features that they’ve built.

Use Deck Design To Complement Your Home’s Style: Boost curb appeal with a creative deck design that reinforces your home’s aesthetic strengths. Front entry decks often incorporate strong vertical lines as well as wide, easy to climb porch steps. Choose deck colors to accentuate the colors of your home’s exterior, or go monochromatic for a very sleek, on-trend look.

Choose Composite Decking To Eliminate Maintenance Worries: Front entry decks get a lot of use. Choosing composite decking eliminates the look of heavy traffic, as PVC and composite decking keeps its color without fading. Additionally, composite decking doesn’t sag, warp or twist the way wood can. Taken together, these factors eliminate a lot of maintenance worries from the Framingham homeowner’s plate. There’s never a need to paint or stain composite decking. Periodic pressure washing keeps your home looking great!

 

Creative Decks for Creative Families

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“Our deck is truly a multi-functional space,” Emma said. “As a family, we love to be outdoors. The neighborhood is lovely – there’s a reason we bought a home in Framingham! – and we want to be able to enjoy it. My daughter paints. Right now she’s doing a landscape of the side yard over here, by where the forsythia bushes grow. It’s very pretty, and as a Mom, I’ve got to say I get a kick out of seeing her out there on the deck with her easel and paints.”

“Our youngest child is a bookworm. He’s transformed one edge of the deck into his own personal reading nook. We had the Framingham deck builders build storage into the deck benches. I’d been thinking we would use them as toy boxes, maybe some garden storage, but no, Ethan has one filled with books. He has all his favorite ones out there and he’ll happily just hang out there, reading them over and over.”

“My husband loves the grill. All winter long, he’s watching Food TV. All of these barbecue competitions and brisket cookoffs and all of that? Steven is the one sitting in front of the screen, taking notes. You don’t even want to know all the spices and rubs and whatnot he’s got in the kitchen. As soon as the snow stops falling, he’s out here cooking. Our creative deck design includes a nice elevated area, where Steven has his grill. There’s a sink built in up there, and a small refrigerator unit – he really loves it, and there’s plenty of room for all our friends to gather around and enjoy his cooking!”

“One of the things I really love about our deck is how it’s big enough that we can all be together without being right on top of each other. When we first started talking about a deck, and our Framingham deck designer started talking about dimensions, I was hesitant. It all sounded really big. But then when you start actually living with your new deck and using it as part of your home, it turns out that you use every inch of that space. I even think if we had to have a new deck built, I might even go a little bit bigger!”

Everything Old is New Again: 2017 Porch Design Trends You’ll See in Metrowest MA

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Colorful, big and bold defines porch design trends for 2017. The Hygge trend and desire to enjoy the comforts of one’s home have had a direct impact on porch construction. Expect to see decks and porches getting bigger, as families realize they really enjoy using their outdoor living space. 8 feet wide is large enough to realistically contain seating or dining for a family; porches that run the entire length of the home are making a comeback.

Many of the porches we build in the Metrowest area require porch steps or a ramp to be added to the porch. That brings us to the next part of the porch design conversation: color. Perhaps it’s a widespread hunger for cheer; perhaps it’s because people smile when they’re exposed to bright color – either way, it’s very common for current porch designs to include one or more bold color elements. Composite and PVC decking is available in a variety of colors, which means you can do some really fun things design wise without increasing your budget.

What’s nice about colored composite decking is that the color stays strong and true for decades and you never have to worry about it fading. With traditional wooden decking, plan on painting or restaining the deck periodically to keep colors bright and bold.

Columns, rails, and other porch elements are being designed in bigger, bolder shapes. Work with your porch construction company to choose the right size elements. You don’t have to go dramatically larger to create an outsized impression: simply scaling a column up from a 4X4 to a 6X6 can be very impactful. Columns, rails and other porch elements can be created in the same color as the porch for a monotone look, or in a contrasting shade for increased visual interest.

 

Exciting Entrance way Designs In Framingham MA

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“When you talk about boosting the curb appeal on an older home, the first advice is to paint the front door,” Ryan said. “I get it: changing the color of the door can create visual interest and is a relatively affordable way to spruce things up. But I don’t want just a little pop. I want the entrance way to our Framingham home to really set the entire tone of our residence.  When you see our entrance way, you should know that we’re a family that cares about details. We’re a family that cares about design.”

As custom deck builders in Framingham, there’s nothing we enjoy more than working with homeowners who have a vision for their home. Transforming dreams into reality is what we do best. Entrance way design is so much more than front door selection: constructing a front deck and stairs that grant graceful, inviting access to the home is job number one. The tone of home can be formal, quirky, or casual: deck designs range from classic traditional lines that evoke New England grandeur to family friendly spaces that invite visitors to relax and spend time chatting.

Stone veneers for the home’s exterior is an increasingly popular trend in the Framingham MA area, and we’ve found that this natural look pairs incredibly well with composite decking for the entrance way. There’s a few reasons for this, but the one we’d like to focus on first is how composite decking resists wear and damage caused by moisture. Stone veneers tend to chill and warm at a different rate than the rest of the home’s structure; this can result in dripping and pooling water that forms subsequent to changes in the weather. If that water accumulates on traditional wooden decking, problems with rot, mold and mildew can result. Composite decking resists all water damage, which makes it the best choice for your exciting entrance way in Framingham, MA.

Have The Cutest Front Steps in Framingham

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Pinterest and Instagram abound with images of cute front steps. Many of those ideas focus on things you put on your steps, from whimsical planters to lighting, but let’s take a moment to talk about the actual steps. Your front steps serve as the entrance way to your home. Everyone sees them from the road, making them a vital part of your home’s curb appeal. Great front steps are visually appealing, as well as fully functional.

As Framingham custom deck builders, we build a lot of front steps. We strongly recommend having your front steps built using either composite or PVC decking: these green materials are extremely durable, making them suitable for the high traffic area. Choosing composite decking for your front steps means you never have to worry about insect damage – termites, carpenter ants, and other bugs just aren’t interested in this stuff. Added bonus? Composite and PVC front steps resist mold and mildew growth. Good news if anyone has allergies!

Color is a huge consideration when creating your front steps. There are so many options, from the bright and cheerful to traditional subdued shades. Porch and entranceways are an area where many Framingham homeowners are more comfortable with bold color: a small, bright pop of color can attract the eye and put a smile on your visitors’ faces!

From a design perspective, you want front steps that are steady and easy to climb. Wide treads are particularly smart choice for families with small children or anyone with mobility or balance issues. Rails can be installed along the sides as well as down the middle of the staircase. Rails can also be made of PVC or composite to keep your maintenance workload to an absolute minimum: all it takes is a periodic spray from the hose to keep your porch looking great.

 

Can You Have a Three-Season Deck in Framingham MA?

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“Summers here are glorious and short,” Angie, who owns a home in the Framingham area, loves to entertain. “Our yard is just the perfect backdrop for the fall – when the leaves change color, it’s gorgeous. I want to host a harvest season barbecue, but I worry it’s going to be too cold to do much outdoors.”

As Framingham deck builders, we’re definitely see an increase in the number of people who want to make sure their decks stay comfortable when the temperature drops. Heating decks was identified as a cutting edge deck trend for 2017 by building professionals: top choices include deck designs that accommodate ceramic heater installation or built in fire pits.

“I had never really thought about having a fire pit built into our deck before, but when our builder suggested it, I fell in love with the idea instantly. It’s so fun for the kids – they can toast marshmallows! And it’s good for them to get at least some fresh air, which is hard to do when the days get short in the fall. Once bedtime happens?” Angie laughed. “It turns out adults like to toast marshmallows too – although we might have a glass of wine with our s’mores!”

Along with heating, adding lighting to decks is a popular trend in Framingham. “This really turned out to be an opportunity to add some personal style and do some creative deck design,” Angie said. “There are so many different ways to add lighting to your deck, and our deck builders came to us with many exciting suggestions. We looked those over and thought through what would work best for our family. Now that the lighting’s in place, I have to say it’s one feature of our custom built deck that really gets a lot of compliments: the lighting is bright without being harsh, and it creates a warm, welcoming space where everyone feels comfortable gathering.”