While a deck affords some of homeownership's simple pleasures, designing a deck is not always a simple matter. This is no wonder, for while you are creating a new living space, you are also trying to join house to landscape without compromising either one. A deck I recently designed illustrates some of the issues and considerations that typically come into play. The house, a nondescript one-story with a mid-level entry and a full daylight basement, sits on a large, steep, heavily wooded, southfacing rural lot overlooking Puget Sound. The owner, wanting a large deck to take advantage of this dramatic setting, came to me with a design calling for a single large platform (see Figure 1). The
