Hopefully, the creator of the thread "Hiring a landscape contractor/pool company is perusing other threads and will see this one. It is the kind of situation that crops up when specifics are not called out clearly in the plan and specs. That's what design is ... thinking all these things through and resolving them in the contract so that they don't become problems. A professional designer can anticipate many potential issues and "head them off at the pass." How successful you are in getting the contractor to fix issues will depend on what's in the contract and how assertive you are. If he has incentive for additional business and you're very firm, he'll be more likely to bend. Ideally, the end result should be specified in the contract. This forum doesn't have any mechanism for developing a consensus of what makes good design. Opinions are all over the map on various things. There are exceptions to every rule, but as a general rule one treatment I dislike more than its alternatives is engulfing a paved area (a floor) on its front side with tall-ish plantings. I think it gives a hemmed-in feeling when one usually wants a feeling of open-ness and invitation. Taller plantings would be better at a distance surrounding a passageway than be in or abutting it. Their height could increase with their distance from the pass. In general, doing it this way helps in directing vision to the focal point to which the pass/path leads.

I love stone walls. Go to Ireland, they are EVERYWHERE, and they always look great. Regarding slope, I think you are better off with small steps, rather than trying to slope your wall. In books I've read, they suggest small steps are more stable than a downward sloping wall. Of course, it all depends on what kind of stone you are using, and the degree of slope. You should be able to use a wall as both freestanding and as a small retaining wall. Retaining walls may be somewhat easier to build, because you only need to worry about what one wall face looks like, rather than two. I would also keep the wall low, 2 feet high is big enough to look substantial, and a comfortable height for sitting on. I suggest going to the library or a bookstore and look through lots of stone books to try to find a photo of what you are trying to do, with the kind of rocks you have available. I find just having a picture that's close to what I'm trying to do helps me so much in visualizing the end result on MY property. Another thing is to print off pictures of your landscape and draw pictures of the wall you want right on the pictures. It also really helps to visualize the final result. Good luck! You are ambitious!

You can do it the way you suggest although it may be difficult to attach the plywood (near the firebox opening you can use cement board which meets the code requirements for non-combusitble materials). However, I would suggest that you use mortar, and trowel it on in a sufficient quantity so that it fills up the irregularities and mortar joints and you end up with a reasonably smooth surface. You may have to do it in two coats - first partially filling in the recesses and then a finish coat - the reason is that otherwise a thick coat may sag before it dries. Then you will end up with a surface that is perfect for adhering stone or ceramic tiles to (and it won't stick out into the room as far as a plywood overlay), or even dry wall if you use lead or plastic anchors. This assumes that the existing stone has not been coated with something that will cause the mortar not to stick. If it has, you can use fortified thinset mortar, although it is messier to work with. Hope this helps. Also, since it's 15 feet high you will need a sturdy ladder or even scaffolding (cheap to rent) since the mortar is heavy and you need leverage to apply it.

If you are going to do a stone foundation, use large format stones that actually look like they could be the foundation, not the fake looking ledger stone on so many houses. This is what I'm thinking. A company called Eldorado Stone has good looking stone products. While some are small, there are many that are larger. Stone