An Okotoks deck & yard renovation.

A deck is the renovation you actually use every warm evening, and this Okotoks project treats the whole property that way — the welcoming front and the living-out-back, hammock and outdoor sofa included — as one job instead of two. Grey composite decking, black metal railings, laser-cut privacy screens, and river-rock beds tie the front porch and the backyard together. Here are the finished spaces.

The front sets the tone. A raised composite porch runs across the front of the house in grey boards laid with a mitred picture-frame border, stepping down to grade on a short flight with darker grey stair treads. A black aluminum railing with slim vertical balusters wraps the deck, with a matching gate at the top of the steps.

Behind it, a red-panelled front door with a divided-light window sits between beige lap siding and a board-and-batten gable, a white coach light beside it and a white-trimmed bay window off to the left. The landscaping is finished to match: river-rock beds edged in cobblestone, a paver stepping path, and shrubs settled in — the difference between a deck that was dropped on the house and one that was built into the yard.