So about a year ago, as part of the house I built a 44'x16' structure resembling a deck. I say resembling because there are no railings on the deck, and with money so tight with building the house, the sole purpose of the structure was make "permanent scaffolding." The deck was to get us 10' off the ground so ladders would suffice for getting the siding up.

Well, now we're in the house and using this deck probably more than we should since it doesn't have railings. I managed to return roughly $300 worth of materials to Lowe's and received a merchandise credit card. With our number of munchkins running around, I'm sure we could fill that deck if we just put railings on it and was done with it, but I can't just do something easy...

So thinking back to the many pages of timber frame magazines, a particular house came to mind - inspiration! Here's the plan:







Taken from: http://www.hearthstonehomes.com/new/barkley/index.html

My plan is to put a roof over a 15'x16' area. With the merchandise credit, I have a pile of lumber sitting on the deck, just waiting to be put together. Hopefully over the 4 weeks I'll be able to at least finish the rails and make the deck kid-safe and ready for lazy evenings, sitting, watching the grass grow...and watching that soon-to-be-built outdoor fireplace...