Thanks Fiona. We'd love to landscape the far side but sadly that is our neighbour's property and the river rock lined area right beside the pool fence is an easement that runs like a creek when we get rain so can't plant in there :). I do plan to sneak in a few more of the Golden Cane palms onto the neighbouring paddock as some have self seeded anyway- hopefully create a nice screen. I have my eye on some nice pots and two lovely wooden loungers with cream cushions, all in budget. But I'll only get them once I decide what to do with the paving area to better blend with the pool surround. I've just had the area pressure washed about 2 weeks ago so my thinking is to go with the repaint in the medium grey and hope we get 5 years out of it.

Thanks for your reply, we definitely need to get some more ventilation happening around the house. The house has concrete paths right around so I imagine that wouldn't help either. The column near the steps is a planter box which I really love but not sure if it will survive if we have to remove the concrete slab.

Yep I agree with this structure, think it'd be great. Louvres might work, but I'd love to be able to pull most of the shade right back if possible and they wouldn't let me do that. It IS a reasonable sized area so it's complicated. Need it over the decking mostly, but it'd be a bonus if it could shade some of the pool. Considered a fixed arm awning on a similar structure....

Not exactly - lots of experience with climbers over structures, but not right next to the house like in your photo. However you could get around the light issue by planting a deciduous climber - wisteria or clematis for instance - which would let winter sun in and block summer heat. (... eventually.) Plus, considering that any kind of solid or transparent roofing material will cut light to some extent, a deciduous climber could well be the most light-friendly option. You can always thin them out a little as they grow, and the light that does penetrate will be unfiltered. The shade that plants provide in summer is always superior to the shade from solid roofing anyway :-)