Dig Doug's Designs - WOW! I love your ideas! Especially adding the birdbath and bird house design. I have canna that I over winter so I can definitely put them into planters. Never thought to place planters on the steps as well. What do you propose to use as the landing material? You have something grey there. Thank you so much for your input and effort. In your 2nd pic - do you have a hibiscus one one side and the spirea on the other?

Why would it feel awkward, it's a comfortable stair layout. If your total rise is 24"/3 it will give you 8" rise, for NJ code you allowed to have an 8 1/4" rise but most places it's 7 3/4"... so you divide by 4 that gives you a 6" rise which is a normal comfortable stair rise especially for the type of stairs you want to build. The minimum tread depth per code is 9" and there is no max for it. That said, when you lower the rise below 6" you always extend the tread depth, which is a common way of doing it, so there is nothing wrong with a 20" tread... and after 11" tread depth you not required to have a nosing per code. If you think about it... the more you drop the rise and the more you extend the tread you end up with a ramp and walking up the ramp is more comfortable than climbing stairs. Good luck

First off my backyard is in a slant down my belief is so that rain falls to back alley drive way concrete easily . so I had just put down pallets and some plywood temporary. But now I would like to diy deck .Front end deck i would like a level and back side to gate at a bit off ground deck. But would need some design help . I have my backyard gate right near where I want to build the deck so would want to at least leave room so I could open door and take out trash easily.

@Patricia Colwell I originally was going to post everything in one thread but it would have been all over the place, so I split it by feature. Just trying to get some general ideas (and make sure we have plenty of options) before putting in our offer since its a big investment. I’m sure we won’t do it all at once. I appreciate all the help and ideas for making our dream forever home even dreamier 🥰