Beachside Deck Design Ideas: Coastline Boards & Cable Railing

Beachside Deck Design Ideas: Coastal Style Cable Railing

A deck along water deserves a stunning view. And while the safety of a deck railing is incredibly important, you shouldn’t have to give up your view to a clunky, overpowering railing setup.

With this smart deck planning, you don’t have to. If you’re looking for waterfront deck design ideas, get inspired by this stunning setup featuring virtually invisible cable railing along with classic TimberTech railing and Coastline finish decking.

A beautiful coastline deck with sleek cable railing

The Look: Coastal Style Deck

How to get this beach front decking look

Follow each tag to the numbered headings below to learn more about each piece of this look.

How To Get This Look

The key to this deck look is use of nautical colors that blend perfectly with the surrounding landscape. The best decks feel like a perfect fusion of the indoors and outdoors. This deck brings in the natural beauty by tying its primary colors to the elements around it.

The decking is a sandy brown, reminiscent of the beach, or of the wood on a dock or a ship. The railing is a crisp, classic white, like rushing, white-capped water. And the stainless steel cable is perfect because of its natural ability to absorb the light and blend into its surroundings.

#1 TimberTech Coastline Decking

TimberTech named this decking color “coastline” for a reason. It’s a brilliant choice for a waterfront deck - for more reasons than one.

TimberTech decking is known for having an amazing range of subtly-blended colors within each board. This collection of soft, beachy browns makes for an incredible accent to the stunning natural setting. The coolness of the tones looks amazing next to cool blue water in any season.

This particular decking is also a perfect functional choice for a waterfront deck. TimberTech Advanced PVC decking is made from high-quality PVC material with no organic wood fibers - that means it offers the best resistance to water damage, rot, mold and mildew. TimberTech PVC decking is an ideal choice for long-lasting waterfront decks

A close-up of the subtle color and texture of TimberTech Vintage Coastline decking

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#2 TimberTech Classic Composite Railing

TimberTech Classic Composite cable railing with a drink rail

Composite railing has a classically strong look that’s distinctive and timeless. On this deck, with the light decking and the open view, the brilliant white posts and rails add brightness while making the deck space feel huge and expansive.

TimberTech Classic Composite Series railing is extremely customizable - we’ll run through this deck’s choice in the top rail profile and the stainless steel cable infill later on.

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#3 Drink Rail Pack with Coastline Deck Board

Beyond the classic look and low-maintenance appeal of TimberTech Classic Composite railing, the system also comes with a ton of customization options. The first choice you’ll make when shopping TimberTech composite railing is which one of four top rail profiles you prefer.

This deck chose the Drink Rail option, which allows you to mount a composite or PVC deck board of your choice for a flat, functional surface to place your drink. Stylistically, the Drink Rail pack is a smart choice to tie your deck surface and your railing together with a common color tone.

One more bonus of using TimberTech Advanced PVC Coastline decking: Vintage decking comes in multiple widths, from normal-sized 5-1/2-inch boards to extra-wide (7-1/2 inch) and extra-narrow (3-1/2 inch) options like the narrow-width boards shown below.

Pro tip: narrow-width boards look amazing as a cocktail rail on top of a deck railing - that’s what the deck owner did to get this amazing coastline look.

TimberTech Coastline Decking in narrow-width board

Shop TimberTech Drink Rail Shop TimberTech Vintage Deck Boards

#4 Feeney CableRail Stainless Steel Cable

The other key way this deck customizes its TimberTech Classic Composite Railing is by choosing stainless steel cables as the infill. TimberTech Composite Railing actually uses cable infill setups from Feeney, a brand that essentially invented and popularized cable deck railing and remains one of the most trusted cable railing manufacturers in the country.

Cable railing was developed in coastal areas as a way to maximize a great deck view of water. The steel cables are polished and woven together in a way that they don’t shine or reflect light - rather, they effectively absorb the light and color around them to almost completely disappear into the view beyond. Check out the image below and see how amazingly Feeney CableRail blends into the lake view and makes the deck feel bigger and more open.

Cable railing virtually disappears into a scenic lakeside setting

Shop Feeney CableRail Shop CableRail Hardware Kit

#5 TimberTech Low Voltage Accent Rail Light

No deck is complete without a great lighting setup - it’s the cherry on top of a dream deck. This deck uses TimberTech Accent Rail Lights to illuminate the walking path along the railing.

These low-voltage lights are easy to install, long-lasting, and energy efficient. As a bonus, they come in three color options with gloss or matte finishes.

Shop TimberTech Accent Lighting

#6 TimberTech Island Low Voltage Post Cap

Finally, this deck uses the distinctive TimberTech Island Post Cap to finish out the classic composite railing style while adding a warm light to the deck’s perimeter. These lighted post caps run on the same low-voltage wiring system that the post lights do, making it easy to set up a full-deck lighting plan.

A TimberTech Island lighted post cap illuminates a railing space

Pro tip: if you’re not sure how to start making a lighting plan for your dream deck, just give our team a call at 1-888-824-5316 or email us at hello@decksdirect.com. We’ve got a team of experienced deck project planners who love helping customers put together a lighting plan for their space.

Shop Island Post Caps

Bonus: Matching Coastline Fascia Boards

As a bonus, we carry TimberTech PVC fascia boards to match every color of TimberTech decking in our selection. That means you can give your deck a polished, finished look around the edges with durable and beautiful fascia boards.

Color-matching Coastline fascia boards complete a coastal deck look

Shop TimberTech Vintage Fascia

Inspired? See More

Browse TimberTech Classic Composite Railing Photo Gallery

Browse Cable Railing Photo Gallery

Browse TimberTech Lighting Photo Gallery

A sunset over a beautiful cable deck railing setup

Learn more about the basics of deck framing and building in our Deck Framing Guide and learn deck parts and terminology in the DecksDirect Glossary of Deck Terms and Lingo.

Browse more deck design and railing style notes to upgrade your backyard space and deck in the DecksDirect Railing Style Guide: the quickest way to learn if your home is more suited for a classic aluminum deck railing or a showstopping cable rail setup.

The more you know, the better your deck and backyard projects will be! Whether you're looking at a brand new project, a deck update, or a style refresh, give our deck project planners a call at 1-888-824-5316 or send us an email at hello@decksdirect.com. Our experienced team will help you get the information, products, and tools you need for an awesome deck completely personalized to your needs!