You can paint the metal parts the same color as the tiles. And paint would be the cheapest upgrade--I vote for paint. I've seen fabric woven through the metal parts, so that it drapes slightly below each tile, but that's a lot of work... and lot of fabric... and a specific "look." You can also source cheap decorative tile to go over what you have. But I would start with paint and see how that turns out. This post was edited by peony4 on Tue, Apr 8, 14 at 15:54

It looks like a faux verdigris (patina) finish. Verdigris is done by first basecoating your piece with copper or gold. Then by sponging or using crumpled plastic wrap you apply 2 colors of green and one blue paint color on to the surface creating a mottled look so the copper/gold base color shows through. You can even add a light touch of white. I love faux finishes and Verdigris is one of my favorites. If a basecoat of solid gold or copper might be too much you can use terra cotta dry brushed with gold then apply your other colors. The following sites have step-by-step- instructions. http://www.ehow.com/how_12035_create-aged-verdigris.html http://www.ehow.com/how_4699699_faux-verdigris-finish-outdoor-furniture.html http://www.ehow.com/how_12035_create-aged-verdigris.html

Hi les, thank you (again) for the comments. Hope you are still out there. I'm looking at either a greeny tan for the walls or a greeny blue (I know you can't tell in the pics but there is a nice bit of greeny blue in the chairs. the tile on the fireplace is going to be changed soon so I don't want to decorate around it. Funny how somethings that look good IRL look hideous in the pics and some things that look hideous IRL look good in the pics (take my word for it, the tiles are hideous). We tried doing the sofa facing the fireplace last night and found that it is just too long to do this. Also the coffee table is so long that the chairs had to be way out on the sides of the fireplace rather than pulled up close. A small round coffee table would fix this but I love our coffee table (and it was one of the few fairly expensive things we've bought for the space). I totally agree that dying the slipcover would make all the difference. I actually tried to dye it a couple of weeks ago and it was a bit of a disaster. I tried using rit dye in Tan and it came out really pinky tan instead of golden tan. The dye remover wouldn't work and I had to bleach it and I think it came out whiter than before. I then tried dying one cushion with tea, but it didn't seem to change the colour at all (probably not strong enough sol'n) and at that point I was so sick of it, I gave up. Next time it gets dirty, I'll try the teastain again. Awhile ago you suggest doing darker pillows on the sofa to connect the chairs to the sofa. I found pillows in the same brown as in the chairs and made some out of a contemporary stripe in the green, red and tan (but don't show up well in the pic). You were absolutely right, they look great. Like most everyone else, we've been hit by the economic crisis and there is a possiblity the school my dh works for will have to close. So we won't be spending anymore money on the room (or anything else for that matter) until we find out if they can weather this storm. I'm going to try ttodd's trick and scour the basement. I've got at least 10 cans of paint in the basement and I'm thinking I'm just going to mix away until I get a colour I like (don't laugh now, this is how I got the perfect colour for the kichen walls and living room ceiling). I bought the prints already, but may look for cheap frames at the craft store or do what I used to do in my college days and just hang them from a wire with clothes pegs :-) Truth be told, I love decorating on the cheap. In the photo below you can kind of see the trio of modern black vases. I saw the trio for $130, but didn't want to pay that. I found a collection of different coloured vases in shapes I liked and spray painted them all black (total cost $30).

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!