Hi~ Been out of town for a few days, so I'm just getting to look at the site, but I have to say that I for one totally misunderstood what you were asking before!! I get what you're asking this time. The cement backer board will work if you seal it or paint it with outdoor paint, but left alone, it will come apart. You could also try using the new "plastic" type wood that is available in stores like Lowe's etc. It isn't cheap, but you could cut a lot out of one board, so in the long run, it may be cost effective. You can use regular craft paint or paint for plastic on that material, then seal it with spray shellac or something similar. Hope you find something that will work for you! Post pix if you do! I'd love to see the final product!

Wow, that paint color is really not working with that tile. I can see the strange blue tone in the paint. I like the first shower curtain and I like the idea of wall paper. Side tracking...about 5-6 years ago I was one of those people who were told, and believed, browns were all neutral. Then I learned to see undertones (thank you GW) and can't believe I didn't notice before. I knew how to detect undertones in makeup! Seriously, I'm baffled I never noticed such things in decorating. I'm so thankful I didn't buy brown/mushroom color furniture. Picture that with pinky brown carpet. Eww.

Hi KW. It's a yard around a townhouse. The "black cloth" is actually a temporary fence to keep the cats from jumping out of the yard. Behind it is the front fence wall of the garden (which has been gaps in it that the cats squeeze out from). I am not fussed about the amount of sun the garden gets - we really only use it in the winter. Even with shade, it's insanely hot in the summer here. I'm worried an umbrella (like the softer furnishings we've tried), will just get sun bleached and melted in a season. I've ended up with the metal garden furniture because everything else -- wicker, plastic, and wood -- don't seem to last. I like the idea you suggest of hanging flower pots and wall art. We definitly will fill the empty planting bed. It's semi-shaded and that somehow makes it prone to root rot and bugs. We've tried mint, sage, and ground cover flowers there. Haven't yet figured out what will thrive there. I'm looking into purchasing a few long, thin, and deep planters, in which I'd plant some bamboo, to add some greenery with height (like below). They're costly, so I likely can only afford about 8 or so, and space three of them out on each of the long walls.

@P.D. Schlitz - I think we need a decent hedge all the way around the yard if possible. I think I mentioned earlier but there are about half a dozen neighbors who live uphill of us. A couple of them can see directly into our yard from their backyards - they have those see-through iron fences like we do but are just at the top of the hill. Putting up tall hedges would be ideal if possible. I've sort of been on a California natives thing with plants so I picked up lemonade berry, coffee berry, and Toyon plants from a local nursery and was planning to plant those along the long fenceline to hopefully grow into a taller hedge. I had read somewhere that, technically, we're supposed to have 2-3' of extended property line behind the gate for access purposes. I should probably check this but I don't know if that would apply towards the 3' setback requirement for a shed/structure anyway. The previous owner had a TON of bamboo that he let grow out of control back there, and he also placed some pots of it on the other side of the fence - I've been using a combination ortho ground clear and manually digging up the rhizomes to eliminate them but it was such a pain in the rear to deal with starting out. It might be conceivable to plant directly behind our fence though - I just need to contact the city and see what is allowable :) Part of the reason I have the yard excavated is to participate in a turf removal rebate program - we used to have grass back there so had it removed as well as in the front yard. The requirements to get your money back (which is only based on what you spent for the project up to the max of $4 per total sq footage of grass removed) is by installing permeable surfaces. We *can* pour concrete in a given area... it just won't be covered by the rebate. Thus, we are in fact incentivized to go with permeable surfaces (this is why I had initially mentioned flagstones + crushed rock). I am intending to pour a few inches of roadbase underneath all of it too, for a firmer foundation. As far as drainage, that has historically been a challenge. We had a section of drains replaced and, after posting for advice online (I should start a thread here actually), I've deliberated pulling out the 3" triple-wall drain that runs parallel against the concrete patio and replacing with perforated 3" triple-wall surrounded by drainage rock instead. That would be a lot of effort but it would probably help encourage drainage. We had heavy rains this past season here in SoCal but I think that's relatively unusual. Supposedly it's an upcoming El Nino year though, so things could change. This is what I was thinking for drainage initially (I haven't observed water from the hill come flooding down into our yard, as there is quite a lot of trees, vegetation, and a drainage channel that would absorb or carry away a majority of it): - Blue lines/arrows indicate the outside of our property which is a hill and the *general* direction that water flows when it rains (there is also a drainage channel further up the hill and we haven't had issues with water coming up over the sides of the retaining wall and into our property... at least, not yet). - Green lines/arrows indicate where existing drainage is (3" solid triple wall I believe). - Yellow circles indicate where current surface area drains are. - Orange circles indicate where I might consider adding additional surface area drains (if even necessary in conjunction with a french drain) - Red lines/arrows indicate where I might consider adding french drainage (3" perforated triple-wall surrounded by crushed rock and fabric) The direction the arrows are pointing either indicates where the water is currently flowing OR [in the case of the red lines/arrows] the direction/grade I'd want to achieve for the water to flow But, after getting some feedback on that, I think it might be a bit overkill. It *might* be enough just to stick with the green line and just replacing with perforated triple wall and creating a french drain along the concrete area, especially if a majority if not all of the area in the yard is going to be permeable anyway. This may get into a debate about corrugated vs perforated too lol... that said, not sure if I'd need to add or provision for any kind of drainage around the shed....