Say, thanks for the compliment (your patio is handsome, worth every dime you spent on it!). We designed and built the pergola ourselves in two weekends, hiring a local landscaper to dig out the planting beds so we could set the footings easily. Roughcut hemlock was relatively inexpensive (forget, but $200 sticks in my mind). It is 30' long with a 12' projection. I stained it myself over the course of a Patriot's Day weekend (50/50 bleaching oil and silver grey stain). We added it to visually "tie" the house to the raised septic system and soften the tall aspect of the home on a low lot. Trompe l'oeil, I guess. It spans the continuation of the driveway to the back of the house. It is tall enough to accomodate a full size pick up truck/SUV, but NOT with a roof rack. The bay window in the bedroom dictated the height at the mid-point. We spent a lot of time working on proportion, so it would have enough mass to work with the proportions of the house; and not look too "spindly" or "cheap". Planting it has proven more problematic. It is a partial shade garden throughout the growing season here in Maine. I have Sweet Autumn clematis on the first (eastern) post, another clematis on the second (which I don't think will remain there throughout this season), and a lovely clematis (Triternata rubromarginata) on the third. I had an Akebia on the western post, but lost it to a brutally cold winter with no snow cover in 2003-4. I love Aristolochia durior and am thinking of adding it to either that post or the second one. But what I thought would be an easy planting exercise has been tougher than I expected, funny how that works, huh?

I'm on my iPad so can only post one photo at a time. So the 2 photos of my patio will be in 2 posts. I did a stamped and stained concrete patio. It's off the back corner of my house - behind the living room and side porch. The porch is set back about 6 feet from the exterior wall of the living room. I ended up doing a free form design, kinda like 2 interlocking circles. I can't get a aerial view because of the corner of the house. Overall it's about 600 sf. It's off the northwest corner of the house. There is a large maple tree in the "corner" between where the 2 circle connect. That tree provide wonderful shade from the late afternoon hot west sun. We have one of the circles set up with a round patio table for 4. The other circles is set up with a fire pit and 4 chairs. And I have it surrounded by potted plants. I didn't bother to go out and neaten things up for these photos. I just wanted to be able to give you a general idea of shape and design. This first photo I'm standing on the back steps of the porch - this is the circle behind the living room.

How do you plan on using the patio? Just some seating or bbq? If it was mine and I wanted a bbq, I would probably have concrete poured so the patio extended out in to the lawn area so I would have some open space overhead so the smoke would not want to settle by the ceiling of the patio. I would loose the lawn, replace with something cooler like wood chips and then a deep flower bed of plants that one could grab a clipper, a tote and a glass of ice tea and tidy up in 20 minutes while in enjoying the yard. For me in SoCal, it would be Salvias and roses. I did that combo here and just love the activity of all the humming birds zipping in and out. On the brick, I think a nice herringbone pattern would break up all of the brick you have but if you are just doing the running bond, I would probably just to a trim border of brick. The neighbors house is so close I think it might be too much as much as I like brick. Of course if you were going to use an outdoor rug in the covered part that would break up the brick anyway and then I would look nicer than the plain concrete Another thought to bring some height to the neighbors wall might be a pair of large terra cotta pots with a lemon and a lime tree (dwarf so they stay smaller)

There was fake turf on the playground at a school where my kids attended at one point, and there is maintenance involved with it (replenishing/leveling the infill material). I'm sure it's more frequent at a school where it gets heavy use vs. at a residence. I have a neighbor who has it in the backyard and they have dogs. She said she uses Simple Green to clean up dog messes :-/ Athletes who play and practice on artificial turf have brought up health concerns, so there's controversy around that (without a lot of research), so that's also something to consider for those with young kids and/or pets. I tend toward the other extreme (shying away from chemical fertilizers and pesticides) even it if means not having grass look perfect and green all the time and sharing my landscape with creatures who leave unsightly holes in leaves, etc. I think artificial turf has its place and looks (and functions) great in the right application, but it would really bum me out to go out in my own yard and be walking on plastic.