The stonework lower deck has 2 chasie lounges & 2 chairs. This deck hangs over a canyon. The redwood wrap around deck(700 sq ft) has all black iron furniture and rust cushions, terra cotta pots. The front porch has wrought iron scroll work chairs, green cushions. Which need recovering.....and updating. Note: The house is in a mountainous canyon, red rock area. I went for durable, neutral...earth tones. None of the decks can be seen from each other. Cushions can be changed to get a different look @ any time. The brick patio is off to the side of the house.... off the dinningroom. And then there's a flagstone patio.....we never use on a lower level.... I'm just working on the "swing" right at the moment.... This post was edited by nicole__ on Fri, Jun 20, 14 at 11:37

Haha Fori! Thanks raven!!! These are great! And much cheaper. I think I’ll look at getting some samples. Now I am worried the patterns will conflict with the decorative block. I was going thinking of ordering 12x12 but fireclay says it has a low slip resistance. It will be by the pool, but not part of the coping. I am wondering if 8x8 would be better since there would be more grout lines? I think I will call a local concrete guy and also see if he can match my current concrete. I might put the tiles in the back only, if it looks like the pattern may conflict with the block work.

Your location has a bit of a slope behind it. You could use that to your advantage by moving the back right corner of your patio to the "high" point and create a short "L" shaped retaining wall just high enough to be usable as extra seating. On the left edge of your patio and the edge that will be in the foreground, outline your patio with pavers (or bricks or patio blocks or cap blocks) so that the top of the paver is level with the ground to make mowing around it a whole lot easier. If moving the corner of your patiio back and to the right results in your tree stump not being in the center of your patio, that could be a good thing, especially as it inevitably rots. There are different ways to incorporate your stump into your patio rather than cutting it the rest of the way down or having it the center of attention.

Well this is a fascinating question. I think what you're trying to do is closer to greenhouse supplemental lighting than sole source indoor grow lighting. You might try looking for information online about what wattages (and types) of lights greenhouses use, how high they are hanging above the plants, and how many square feet each light is expected to cover. Most greenhouse lights are either high pressure sodium lights or metal halide lights. A typical security light may be a bit different, and may not provide the same amount of usable light for plant growth. Wish I could provide more information, but I don't have any experience with that sort of supplemental greenhouse lighting. Also: why not just use more shade tolerant plants? Any lighting solution that provides enough light to add "a few hours of sunlight" (which will be more than a few hours of artificial light!!) will be fairly expensive, both for initial installation costs and monthly electrical usage. <4 hours of (direct?) sun is still a decent amount of light!