And here is the deck portion. Sorry the pictures aren't very good. I snapped them on my way to work this morning and this is where the shadows had fallen. Hopefully enough to get an idea. If you need better photos I can take some when I get home.

Whether pressure treated or cedar, can't really tell from here but it looks to be cedar, I would leave it alone. If you do stain it be prepared to restain it every 2 years.

If it is dirty deck wash it with 1/4 cup of dish soap, 3 cups of laundry bleach and 1 gallon of water. Search YouTube for a how to.

So, sealing isn't required to prolong the life of the deck? It isn't recommended to protect it from the elements?

This would be good news as this was not a project I was particular excited in undertaking. Plus I was hoping to plant something to hide that lattice on the bottom a bit.

Here are a couple more pics with better lighting and fewer shadows. I am all ears if anybody has any words of wisdom or advice. I am not sure how happy I am with it in its current state to be honest. It looks like it hasn't been maintained. Of course maybe that is just letting the beauty of the wood shine through in somebody elses eyes.

And the screened in porch...

You need to weigh out the cost and effort of maintaining versus just cleaning it every year or two. you may get longer life out of it by staining and or sealing it every year or two but in the long run the costs may end up being about even. Cedar as it appears to me as well is naturally decay resistant on it's own, it very well may check (crack) with nothing done to it and it may do that even if stained and sealed.

Thanks for the response. We may try cleaning it per the advise above and see how it looks. If we could not start the cycle of staining annually!

Me....I'd paint the trellis and trim, then stain the deck floor. If the trellis isn't stable, consider replacing it with trellis panels that fit between the posts.
It looks like the wood needs a good cleaning, priming and then paint (or stain). Find a painter willing to do the right prep work.

We have a guy who came recommended coming out tomorrow to tell us what needs to be done and provide us with a quote. I tell ya, I feel like I am an intelligent woman well versed in the art of research, but this deck thing has me stumped. Everywhere you read you get conflicting advise.

What did you decide to do? We are attempting to stain our deck this weekend. We had our decks re-stained professionally two years ago. They used Sherwin Williams, Deckscapes semi-transparent. The decks look terrible now. The painter charged me over $5k two years ago and wants to charge $2k to re-do now. The painter had the Sherwin Williams rep out and he did not stand by the product at all. We decided to do it ourselves. We were going to use a Behr solid stain due to CR reviews. Now I'm seeing a lot of people have been unhappy with that product in other reviews. It is so much work; I'd hate to use a bad product. We cleaned the deck yesterday and are planning on sanding and staining today. I was hoping to get some good advice on GW. I'm currently more involved in the kitchen forum.