Here is a picture I pulled up off google maps as well. with a question regarding the wood fence in the right corner. Is there a point to these fences? It was here so we haven't touched it as i am not sure it's purpose. We have since planted daylilies in that area. what do you think of a rose hedge across the back from post to post. this area gets full sun, the soil is sand, the grass hardly grows but the daylilies have taken to it fine and i do have shrub roses that i need a spot for. They're red, and just small and were originally purchased to go along the side where the weed problem is, but then i realized if i needed to take them 30 inches from the wall it interferes with traffic in and out of the gate to the back. any and all suggestions are welcome. to note, the front garden lining the patio pavers gets full sun mostly, closest to the house there is an area that gets shade and is getting hostas. the garden infront of the house along where teh windows are gets mostly shade until that corner, and i wanted to put potted hostas in there, and possibly line coleus in, or caladiums. wasn't sure how tall caladiums get. I have also considered an urn in place of the small square planter on the walkway.

valzone5 - LMAO!! I do believe they are meant to place hand towels in. :) That lovely piece of "furniture" has since left our home...well actually it sits in my garage begging to be burned. walkin yesindeed - I will gladly send you a big section framed once i get it pulled down! :)

Hi moc, I went to the website to look at that. To me the price wouldn't be bad if it were comfortable. I'll have to check out some reviews. I bought a daybed frame off of CL which is really cute, its an iron daybed, but it is still in storage and I need to get a mattress for it, but I would be willing to re-think my choice - the daybed only cost me $50.00 so I could probably resell or give it to one of my kids. The thing is, I have a spare bedroom for the grandkids but they don't usually sleep overnight because most of the time I have to work the next day. But that ottoman would be a good option because I would actually like to use that space for dual purposes - a small office for me, and a toy storage and play room for the kiddies. Next week I am having my whole house - attic, walls and crawl space insulated. That will really add to the comfort level. My goal is get my space as comfortable as I can - and to take care of all maintenance issues as priority. My next project for spring will to be grading around the foundation and directing any water off the foundation. Fun huh. This is one of those items I am going to keep in the back of my mind. I also considered just one of those blow up mattress's - a decent one - that inflates and deflates fast. But I have never slept on one so don't know how comfortable they are. Doesn't sound like I want guests to linger too long hah! Thanks for the ideas, I appreciate them!

Thank you again for all your help, everyone. These are great ideas! I have a whole different concept now. My computer crashed completely. I'm having so much computer trouble neither one of us can get any new photos in but here's an old one already in the computer. This is one of the terraces which go up at each side of the flat space in the middle. We've since stained the wood a very dark brown, and replanted the terraces with brightly-colored perennials, and ornamental grasses, which are doing well. The concrete has been replaced with a more natural stone-like look. There is about 20 feet of space between the patio floor and the top edge of the rocky slope; that area has woolly thyme groundcover and low perennials with stepping stones. On the right-hand side we have a very large bowl fountain with two Asian-style herons standing in grasses near it (all taken in for the winter now). porkandham, bleigh, teacats: I didn't think of putting colorful plants on the deck that can be seen from the road. I love the notion of railing planters. They'll have to be very well secured because of the wind, but I think this will be an amazing help. And I think one large metal art piece will be just the thing for that empty spot on the wall, teacats. We're both art lovers. It will be fun looking for just the right piece. jterrilyn, we hope we won't need a new roof for another decade or so! lynxe,cyn, lolauren, oakleyoak, teacats -- I hope the second photo helps. I get your point about staggered heights and placement on the slope looking better than a solid mass of one plant. We don't want to plant anything very tall because the view is the major attraction, but we could plant several large shrubs in a natural-looking pattern. We had the slope shot with wildflowers when we first built the house, but for a variety of reasons they didn't make it. We have irrigation to the slope that we're not using now, so we can reinstitute that. annz, you're right. Because of the wind a row of pots won't work. I love the idea of a retaining wall "bench", but the outer edge seems to be holding fine, and now that the flat space is all planted people sitting on the wall would probably step on the plants getting there from the patio. livewire, cyn, judith, we did have a structural engineer and the County okay the deck. That was when it only had 4x4's. We changed it to 6x6's for the aesthetics, and it really should be okay now, I think. The deck is 24x12. jane, what a gorgeous yard! I love it. We can't replicate that here, as the climate just isn't right, but thank you for the gorgeous photos. I had to laugh at the deer going swimming in your pool. Nobody here has pools, so they don't get that upscale experience! suzanne, we have bears and mountain lions here, so we'd rather not make it even easier for them to get to the deck. Bad enough we have racoons climbing the posts all the time. We're just a bit too low for aspens to do well here; we have some in the front yard, and they're not very happy. madeyna, we thought about cross supports earlier, but it would obstruct the view. So, thanks to you all, we've been able to look at this freshly, and here's the plan: We're going to plant a tree above the right-hand terrace (as you look at the house in the photo view) so that it will appear to be at the corner of the house. It won't be where the view will be obstructed much. On the left side we'll do a similar placement with a large evergreen shrub so that the tree and shrub don't "match", but harmonize. We're going to get some substantial planters which will hang on the deck railing and be planted with colorful annuals. On the slope instead of that green blanket of junipers I was imagining we'll plant a more natural landscape with a few large scattered shrubs, using a drip system and leaving the rock as is. This won't be expensive, as we have the irrigation still in place that we used for the wildflowers which didn't make it and can easily convert the spray to drip. We'll either block in the posts to make them more substantial-looking or perhaps plant a climbing vine on one of them for color. Everyone, thank you again! All of this will be doable, not expensive, and will make us happy with the way our back yard looks. And thanks also for your concerns about erosion and the safety of the deck; I think we have that handled, but I very much appreciate your caring enough to point out potential problems. Now I can't wait until spring!