OK, I'm just a dumb ol' girl, here ... but I'm thinking a metal paint scraper is a big no-no ... isn't that going to screw up your wood? I was/am in the same spot you were when you started - only I didn't try to paint/stain over peeling ;) I'm in the process now of stripping, by myself, about the same size space. Since I knew the previous product was Sherwin-Williams, I'm using their stripper, but I'm guessing any decent stripper would do the same. This is NOT an easy chore, but I apply the stripper with a roller to a smallish section, keeping wet, wait 10-15, then brush scrub the lifting paint/stain with a polyester brush (hands and knees, brush scrubbing by hand)and rinse with a hose. I'm not getting all the way to bare wood in some sections, but this is a deck with 15 yrs of product on it. If I can at least get to where there's nothing left to peel - might have to sand a bit - then I'll apply new stain. I'd like to not have to sand, but the stripper itself is lifting the wood grain a bit, which means I might have to. Maybe there's a better/faster way than what I'm doing ... so I'll be anxious to see if anyone comes up with a better answer for you! Good luck!

I did my deck in a tan color, with green railings and I love it. I like the way the railings kind of disappear into the green of nature behind them when I look out my windows. In fact, I liked that color so much I painted my shutters that color in the front of the house. But all the pics you showed above are quite handsome too. The job was part finished when I took this pic:

these pics are poor but the posts are notched and attached to the joists. i'm not sure what the on center distance means but the front of the deck are about 44 1/2" between the 4x4s.

That used to be a stock moulding in my area but is no longer available- I ran up a similar looking moulding on a table saw pretty quickly, it also allowed me to choose first quality kiln dried pressure treated...