I won't be home before at least sunday, but let me see.. I found a pic that should help explain exactly what i'm asking:
I want to attach something decorative (or functional or both) in the spot with the red circle. Right where the post meets the deck, in that armpit. The less deckspace it uses, the better, but it's got to be at least an inch/couple cm wide at the base (the part that would be on the deck right up by the post, snug in the armpit)
@warpus Here are two suggestions:
You could put a small flock of metal birds like these.
...
A simpler solution that we like is to use rocks. We have rocks large and small in our house and in our yard. Find or buy a large enough rock that has a pleasing shape or color or texture and put it there. You would want it to be heavy enough so that it is not easy to move. If it were daylight, I would go take some pictures and post them. The nice thing about using rocks is that you can easily change them or later replace them with a more permanent object. You could even stack two or more rocks.
Unfortunately the birds won't work, as whatever I install there needs to cover the entire "armpit".
The rock is not a bad idea. Right now I am using a brick. What I like about the brick is that it has flat sides and 90 degree angles, so it fits in snugly in the "armpit". But it doesn't look nice. A rock is good but I would basically want one that snugly fits in there.. so it seems something artificial or at least carved out of rock would be needed.
The alternative would be to redo one of the deck boards, but I thought it might be an opportunity to install something unique to the deck and make it more interesting. I figured it'd be some sort of an ornament or light or something else useful or nice looking or both.. A larger statue type thing is not out of the question, but I was hoping for something smaller.
I found these metal things at a store not so dissimilar from the birds.. Instead of birds it was flowers though and there was a narrow metal base on which it rested, with holes for screws, long and wide enough to cover the whole armpit. It looks like it is probably meant to be screwed vertically, but it would fit in the armpit space screwed in to the deck. The thing is that flower designs are lame and sort of dangly in one direction. I would want something that's not an eye sore, more compact, it should probably snugly fit in that space somehow.. The flowers and birds are a step in the right direction though.
A light might be cool and the closest I have found to what would fit there are
small triangular lights that people install on deck stairs. But I couldn't find anything that really fit well and would look natural there. The linked ones are too small, it wouldn't cover the whole armpit. In theory two side by side might work, but I am hoping there is a more elegant solution. I'm also not 100% on light shining sideways in that configuration making sense on my deck. One of the lights would basically shine towards the sliding door. It might not matter at all, but it might get annoying for the person sleeping in that room. At the same time, it might make it amazing for when you're out there in the middle of the night for whatever reason. Either way, the lights were designed for stairs and make 100% sense there, and they might just look out of place by a post like that.. but I'm considering it cause it seems like the idea might have some merit, just need to find the right product and light direction.
My first thought for this was a rectangular pot of some kind that fits in that space perfectly and that I can attach to the post or the deck or both, in which I could then plant stuff. But I couldn't find anything like that either and gravitated to smaller solutions
