Thanks everyone for your further comments. No problem about it being an old post, always nice to communicate with people about design solutions/problems. Jilly, I posted some photos on 1st January 2016, they appear further up in the post. Garden Beet Pty Ltd, and Morel Construction Ltd, both of your solutions look great, but our problem still remains the western Queensland sun which is pretty vicious on anything that will either wilt, fade or break down. It was quite a difficult challenge to come up with something that was affordable, workable and durable. I would love to have had plants because I believe they soften large "hard" exterior areas, but we have decided that we will do that with pots around the pool area. Still have that to do, even after all this time. :) Thanks everyone for re-igniting this chat. Jilly, hope you find something that works for you.

Your aspect and site preparation plus soil quality will have a big bearing on your garden success along with good planning & advice from garden experts. There are quite a few stories on subtropical gardens & this one is about [Balinese style gardens[(https://www.houzz.com.au/magazine/so-your-garden-style-is-balinese-stsetivw-vs~28063813). If you read it there will be links to other similar stories that you can save and find the right plants and a design to suit your space. If you stagger the deck or paved surface the space has more interest and pockets to plant feature/colourful plants. Agree with Sian about finding the water feature first to start with & maybe a watering system to keep it all lush. Do you have any mature neighbouring gardens to borrow backdrop, shade and height for your space? Plan it out first and Good Luck!

If you can put doors on the whole back area and deck or pave out to a functional size for entertaining - be sure to have as close to same height as inside and the whole width of the house if possible. You could do the pergola which looks gorgeous and makes a cozy feel. On top of the pergola you may be able to do a weatherproof retractable awning if you do not want a permanent covered area. That would make a whole area for indoor outdoor entertaining in all types of weather. You can still have a step down area to grass and plants at the rear. Travetine is great and easy to hose down. You do not have to concrete them down use pavers on a good road base. You would have to speak to the experts about how to get the right height - also be sure to have a slight fall away from the house.

Hi everyone, We have a 1960s brick home in Melbourne close to the beach. We’ve spent the last 12 months getting our backyard to a blank canvas since we purchased it. It was 20 years of weeds and concrete. We have spent a few months trying to work out our backyard plans and we want to get the hard landscaping done before we go any further. There is a large amount of concrete in our backyard and we had planned to deck over a big oration if it. Quotes came in around 30-35k to do, so we are looking to scale it back. I have done a very rough sketch in black of the scaled back deck. And the windows to the left links to the kitchen. We are also planning on making the deck level to the floors in the house so you don’t have a few awkward steps. We will still have a large portion of concrete that we’d like to hide, but stick for ideas. We have considered crushed sand but open to any suggestions or ideas from others.