Hi Digin, Without actually being in the space, this is what I would do. First, we need to change the hallway effect. It is uncomfortable to most people, makes them walk faster instead of leisurely enjoying the space. I would definitely bring the walkway up to the garage as well as the width of the porch. I probably would turn it towards the drive almost as is but would also have another section going a little down the drive. A walk for you and one for visitors. I would put a small, 4 seasons of interest tree to soften and connect human scale to the hard lines of the tall house. And I would under plant the tree with just one groundcover and carry that groundcover through out the entire area. I can't tell what it looks like under your large window but I do know if it needs hiding, putting 4 round or square shrubs that have to be trimmed is going to look like you are hiding something and does nothing to soften the hard lines of the structure. It is the same feeling that the shrubs along the garage gives. The purpose of foundation planting is to soften the hard lines of a building in an attempt to have it blend in with nature. Why some people plant things that are the same shape as the lines they are trying to soften has always baffled me. That type of designing, of course does have it place but it is dictated by the style of the house and for the most part doesnt work in most situations. I am not sure what exposure you have, nor what the rest of the space is like so again I am winging it. Will you be paving over the porch? If I could do what ever I wanted, I might try to make the step have a much wider tread and try to make it look like an half moon. I might also, not directly in the middle of the garage wall have an arched cutout small enough that it doesnÂt wreck the flow of 2 people walking side by side and possibly espalier or grow something on an interesting trellis with maybe an uplight shining on the wall. All these types of things should be consider in advance for placing PVC pipes under the walk for wires or drip irrigation. There are so many little things that can be done to make great changes. Simple things like, we painted some of our exposed foundation gray because it blended in with the siding better then concrete color. Another simple thing that lots of folks donÂt think about it putting shutters on their windows in the back of the house. It really dresses things up and doesnÂt break the bank. IMO, with your style home it is important to not use a bunch of different types plants, keep it simple and elegant. You want to create a comfortable, not busy approach to your house and that is how your guests will feel when you open the door. The backyard is the living area where you put al the fun, things that are you, like how you decorate the inside of the house. We inherited a builders concrete 2' wide walkway, also have brick and gray siding and pretty much removed all the round and square shrubs that lined poth sides of the walk. It was tough on our clothes when the shrubs were wet. One of my passions is gardening/design, so I plant for me and for what I see, consequently, starting a small bed at the street and adding alittle when ever I could on each side with the plan that the two sides would eventually meet. Good luck, more importantly have fun. My rule is that plants should bring me pleasure and if it is getting on my nerves it then becomes a weed and it is removed. Sorry this post is so long, as I said landscaping is one of my passions and if I can steal a moment to myself, I love to talk design. Ally

The vinyl covered ones you are referring to are control joints rather than expansion joints. The expansion joints run full depth and are filled with mastic over a foam filler strip. Control joints are only about 1/2" deep and create a line along which the concrete can crack without it becoming unsightly. I don't know why they use the vinyl strips over control joints on pool decks, control joints can be just a simple tooled joint or sawcut joint as you see in sidewalks. I guess they think it has a more finished look. If you don't like them I'm sure you can ask the PB to just do a tooled joint and not use the strips.

Our pool builder here in SoCal talked me out of the concrete finishes I thought I wanted--in a good way, because his company is really, really good. His concern was that no one slip and fall, and he does almost all the decks with concrete, and then an acid wash. I suppose that like others said, it exposes a bit of the particles of the concrete, but it's regular concrete, not with added pebbles or anything like that. So it looks like concrete, just not slippery. I wouldn't consider broom finish, because that seems like a driveway finish. What I'm talking about is more uniform looking. It just looks better aesthetically. Boy, am I glad we did the acid wash finish. While watching a dozen kids in the pool, I never, ever have to yell out to them to not run around the pool. They can run all they want, and no one has ever slipped and fallen. Not even once, and our pool build was in 2011. I had a top-notch pool builder, and he was definitely right about the deck.

My house is in Louisiana built in 1988. It’s a slab foundation. When they built house they added separate concrete front and back patios. There are wood expansion joints between the foundation and patios. The wood is starting to rot and doesn’t seem to be a good idea with termites everywhere (yes, we have house under termite contract). My question is, can I remove these expansion joints without causing a problem for my foundation? Some of the foundation seems to jet out over the wood joints in spots. What is best product to replace with?