Multi-Level Victorian Deck with Dining Porch
This multi-level Victorian deck features intricate gingerbread trim, painted teal balusters, and pale blue floorboards leading from a covered dining porch down to tiered seating platforms framed by hydrangeas and lush ferns.
Design notes
Victorian design is layered and ornamental. Look for wrought and cast iron in railings, gates and gazebos, patterned brick and encaustic tile, urns and fountains as focal points, and rich planting of roses, ferns, hydrangeas, hostas and clipped evergreens. Porches with gingerbread trim and painted colour schemes set the palette; the best gardens choose two or three ornaments and let the planting carry the rest.
What to look for
- Board direction and how it changes the apparent size
- Edges: built-in benches and planters instead of rail where allowed
- Stairs wide enough to double as seating






