Wood

When we purchased the house, all exterior columns and porch ceilings were stucco.  We decided to go with natural wood - 8"x8" redwood posts for the columns and tongue and groove cedar planks (5 1/4") for the ceiling.  We'll be staining both a darker brown color.

The first task was the brackets.  We put a little thought into this.  Since we didn't want moisture crawling the column we elevated the post a bit.  And we doubled up the bracket width where it meets the concrete deck as we'll be tiling later.  Finally we sent the brackets off to be galvanized before installation.

 

Pappy, our talented chief framer, used a monstrously large circular saw, hammer, chisel, and drill to get the posts into the correct shape.  Afterwards, our painting contractor stained the bolt holes, bottom, and interior of the post to seal against moisture damage.  Here is the post on the bracket.  We still need to cut the bolts shorter off the back side.

Here are the exterior porches with their cedar ceilings (to be stained).

 

And in the final picture, note the black eye bolt hanging from the ceiling.  My 20 foot hemp climbing rope (just like elementary school) will hang here.

Right now it is hanging in the living room as I work on my wrist physical therapy.