Everlastinghardwood.com’s Ipe stock comes from South America and is selected from suppliers that practice responsible and sustainable forestry practices as far as the trees that are harvested, meeting all of the guidelines of the International Tropical Timber Organization. Everlastinghardwoods’ product lines includes Ipe and Jatoba residential hardwood flooring, Ipe decking materials, and a wide range of Ipe patio furniture, including benches, lounge chairs, patio tables and chairs, and coffee and side tables.

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Buy a nice wrought-iron patio set. Those plastic chairs from Wal-Mart are fine when you’re in college but it’s time to upgrade now that you have a nice deck, just begging for some quality patio furniture.

Container plants add a nice touch to deck, especially small trees such as a ficus or lemon/lime trees.

Tiki torches and lights add to the ambience, and don’t require spending a lot of money or time. Stringing some tasteful simple white Christmas lights can jazz up a deck for just a few bucks.

Be prepared for mosquitos and flies, with plenty of citronella candles on hand. There are all sorts of decorative candle holders that  you can use, as well as citronella oil that burns in tiki torches and other decorative burners.

If you’d like to still enjoy your deck in the winter, consider buying a firepit or chimenea. Not only do they look cool but they let you enjoy your deck year-round, if you’re so inclined.

Pressure treated wood is the most common material used in decks today, as it’s safe (no more arsenic added as in the past), durable, and cheaper than other options. Wood is obviously a flexible material, too, as far as designs go, enabling you to incorporate a variety of features.

The only downside to wood decks made from pressure-treated wood is the obvious one, which is maintenance. You’ll not only regularly need to preserve and/or stain your deck, but regular, thorough cleaning is also neccessary. And the reality is that no matter how hard you work, your deck will inevitable look weathered and aged over time.

With those issues in mind, manmade decking materials are becoming increasingly popular. Typically made of a combination of recycled plastic and sawdust, these materials need virtually no maintenance and are impervious to weather. What you see is what you get, and your deck made of manmade materials will look fresh and new for much longer than a traditional wooden deck and require a fraction of the work.

The downsides to manmade materials is they’re more expensive and they come in a relatively limited number of colors and styles. Because you can’t stain them like a wooden deck, you’re limited in the colors and appearance that you can achieve.

Decks are also built from other wood that by nature is durable and requires little maintenance, such as redwood and mahogany. These woods are also unfortunately very expensive, and not within the budget of the average homeowner who is considering building a new deck.