Thank all you guys for the recent attention! Just yesterday we began removing the white picket fence (our property is very rural and fenced otherwise...) The concept right now for the space behind the fence is to be cleared more, stumps ground down, and fully sodded...all the way up to the concrete surrounding the pool. As far as the design is concerned I like the idea of duel shade umbrellas at different spots, chase lounges, and strung up lantern lights. I really like the shade structure from the above reply and also like similar structures, but my biggest challenge is that the patio had that curving concrete design verses a clean square design...squares and curves aren't compatable right?

Hopefully this will give you some food for thought. Your goals are: 1. I don't want anything super big or that puts me out on display in the middle of my yard. Privacy is a concern. 2. make a connection between the deck steps and the basement areaway. That could be a simple as a pathway. But if you fill the space with toddler toys, fire pit, and the chairs around it, you need the space to be even bigger 3. The actual patio space will be used for some of my toddler's toys, Will this be a toy box? or storage for tricycles etc? 4. possibly the grill (it's currently on the deck), and for Since the grill will be used often in the late afternoon, and you have the west sun heating things up, the deck must be a really hot spot to grill currently. Could you locate the grill in a shadier part of the yard? 5. either a propane or wood fire pit with chairs around it, the fire pit will not be built in. You should have the fire pit at least 10-15 ft away from the house. And you 'll need some substantial space around it for chairs. You don't want to be too close to it. You said you don't want anything super big but you'll be surprised how much space you need outdoors to feel comfortable next to a fire pit. Here's something to think about. Gray is the paving, dark green is planting beds (some of which will have tall shrub and trees) and the pale green is grass. This plan will give you a good size patio for your fire pit, and you can even put the grill there if that area is shady at grill-times. The play area is nice and close to the house for supervision. The large area of paving is perfect for tricycle play, and the 2 areas of grass can still be used for things like ball games since there are no planting beds separating them. The view of the patio and fire pit draws the eye to the back of your property, making it seem larger and an inviting destination. If you put in your 5 ft planting beds along the property line that will define them adequately, with no need for the rail fence. Big shrubs along the property line will give you privacy. Hydrangeas are one example of a shrub that grows well and blooms in shade, and comes in every height from a foot to 15 feet. The large pannicle hydrangeas such as Limelight fill a lot of space, cutting down on the costs of planting such large beds, since you only need a few. Because the paving hooks up all the areas you want to use, the backyard is usable even when the grass is wet or muddy in early spring. The paving could be done in stages as the budget allows. I think a simple paving would look best with such a large area - no need for borders or stamping. The shape is what gives it interest. Areas between houses and beside your morning room and deck are hard to grow grass because of the shade, and this plan will, I think, keep the grass in the sunny areas where it will grow well even when it gets hard use as a play area. Grass in shady areas is much more fragile. Hope you can use some of these ideas!

Seems odd/awkward to me to have furniture in the yard in front of the house (but whatever floats your boat, I guess). I would pick furniture that mirrored the style of the house: traditional, straight lines, muted colors. The opposite of fluffy or foo-foo. Does that make sense?

IMO those chairs are really not conducive to nice conversation at all since they are pretty closed in and IMO does not work with the sectional. I like the same thing outside as I do inside. A sofa 2 chairs . We have a 16 x16 part of our deck that has 2 sofas and 4 chairs nice seating for 8 and can squeeze in 10 it allows for rearranging the layout too . You could do the seating you have bought then would have space for the dining area and in your case the BBQ but I will say we moved our smoker away from the main area since the smoke is really not pleasant to be around . We have a huge wrap around deck so an outdoor kitchen and DR in other spaces .