Just throwing some things out here considering the French garden theme: -Could you retrofit the arch to fit over the porch arch and grow your roses off of it? -possibly reconfiguring the horizontal railing to have a small two-door gate, matching it to the metal arch (that's now attached to the house arch and matching the color. -in the area in front of arch and from left side of entry walk, work in some type of stone/pavers interlaced with plants possibly containing a wrought iron bench or little French cafe bistro set. Really getting serious here would be to contain this "bistro" area with a wrap-around railing (that matches all of the other railing or using large rectangular planters to define this "bistro" space. -Not sure of the name of this water feature but using the "lion" head spitting into the trough water feature, sitting it up against your right hand side entry wall IPO the other water fountain. -all of this would extend out approximately equal to the walk off of the drive. Really pushing it here, have your bistro area "step down" into the front section of the yard. The "step down" directly in front of the porch arch with matching stones to the curb, planting your various perrenials to the right and left of that step down. I'd at least match your fence on the left side of your house to your house. Right now it looks like an extension of your neighbor's fence. Either by painting it to complement your house, by adding fence railing that matches the existing railing or by extending some type of stucco wall that matches your house design.

Sounds like you bought my house. We are on 1/8 acre, the house behind us is at a higher elevation. Our municipality only allows 4 1/2 foot fences. We built a berm at the back of our property, put a fence on top, installed a 1 foot high lannonstone wall about 3 feet in front of the fence, back filled that with soil and planted a row of purple leaf sandcherries on top, an elevated planting bed or so to speak. I'm letting the sandcherries grow up into a tree form, I have four of them lined up along the fence with an evergreen arborvitae in the corner for contrast. While the sandcherries won't give us total privacy, it's enough that when they grow they will obscure the view from the neighbors kitchen window to our patio, at least during summer months. And, they add a nice touch of color to our yard. I have another sandcherry that I cut down every year to keep it's shrub form, it blocks the view of my garbage can (at the corner of the garage). Our patio is next to our house. We also planted a popple, aka quaking aspen tree closer to our patio. There are pros and cons to this tree, but it's definitely fast growing. You aren't supposed to plant it close to a house simply because as they age they tend to hollow, but we lop the top off every year to a managable height so it grows wider than taller limiting the risk to our house. They also tend to send shoots around the yard, but easy enough to mow over. The tree gives us privacy from the house behind us, but only shades the area next to our house/patio, so I still have sun in the back part of my yard for gardening purposes. The back of my house faces west. If I could go back, I'd plant a serviceberry "autumn brilliance" in place of the popple - the roots are more shallow and not invasive. We originally had Techny arborvitae along our back fenceline, but as slow growers they filled out in width more than height, and tend to take up too much room, though I did like the fact that they were evergreen. Another thought is Canadian Hemlock for an evergreen privacy screen. While this is technically a tree, it can be easily shaped into a hedge form for total privacy, though I have no personal experience. I'm thinking of planting one in another area to screen another view. Between my fence and patio I left about 3 feet planting space, and planted a staggered row of privets, the Cheyenne variety, to provide privacy from the neighbors to my north. The first year they were twigs, this year they were nice and full and almost reach the top of my 4 1/2 foot fence. Next year they will exceed the height of my fence and hopefully in two years we'll have privacy. They can be shaped into a hedge form. For every 12 inches they grow, cut them back 6 for full growth top to bottom, otherwise they tend to get leggy. There are pros and cons to privets as well, do the research before planting. A fast fix for privacy is the annual morning glory on a trellis. We did this for a screen this year, and I couldn't have been happier. William Baffin rose is a rambler, grows into a high arching form if you have a nice sunny area maybe in a corner of your yard - the key to making your yard feel more private is by adding height to it. A nice patio tree is the Rose of Sharon. Place trees strategically any where you want to block a view. Whatever you do, DO NOT plant the hyped up fast growing Cottonwood trees. They will destroy sewer pipes, foundation, etc. and your neighbors will soon be your enemies. LOL. Another view: "Cheyenne' Privet hedge first year: Privet hedge second year: Morning glories on trellis: Popple, 2nd year? This is what we started with: Not my yard, but nice example of mature sandcherries in trimmed up to tree form:

Violet you've been so helpful to me on this thread! Pictures help me so much to envision things! I've been following this because I too have a hot, tiny yard. Crekha, I think Violet is on to something by extending the patio beyond the roof. Envisioning two spaces instead of three separate ones. So the brick from the patio melds with the path along the garden and out. That would make it look larger simply because it wasn't chopped up into three separate surfaces. Also loved the idea of a low fence with a gate to add two separate "rooms." And the use of the big pots with big plants instead of the little ones. Put your little pots on an outdoor etagier.

We had plumbing and electric done since my last post. Pictures below. All the pipes used (as I could see) were 2", I think there was a small one but used for electric wiring, that's what I was told. We made our selections on coping (travertine torreon edge), waterline tile, and travertine tile for the bench and planter. And have ordered the glass tile!!.. woohooo! Plumbing for scuppers Connection for scuppers and lights Equipment Corners: All around the pool