I think that the problem that you have is that you have too many flat surfaces and angles with nothing to lead your eye away from the blandness. You have grey concrete, grey roof, grey walls and the emotional response to that is a feeling of flatness and blah. The only thing that brings any kind of relief to the view are the plants and the steps that introduce different levels. My suggestion would be to look at adding texture, different levels for contrast to the flat surfaces and colours that unite those elements. Take a look at how the red lid on the rubbish bin pops out amongst the muted tones. Maybe bright red pots with taller (and healthier) looking plants in them on either side of the bench with a textural artwork or screen as mentioned above in between. You could be really bold and paint the steps red!, but don't do the pot plant suggestion if you do that. Once the air conditioning unit is removed I would put more boards down the front to cover up the gap and dirt underneath the pot plants. If you have the available space in front of that, place some seating and maybe a table, perhaps toning in with the grey tones but with a colour pot or cushions that tie in with the plants in the coloured (I suggested red, go with what you like) pots. I would also like to see what sort of door you have to access the room and yes, put the bins somewhere else if possible, they are unsightly.

Make sure you have good soil, add mulch, water crystals to retain moisture, slow release fertiliser to promote healthy growth, a watering system is a great way to save time and keep plants looking great. You could try for a tropical look by planting golden cane palms, elephant ears, the gorgeous Rhapis is elegant and gives good dense coverage and beneath trees the lush Xanadu’s foliage is beautiful, adding to the soil as above will maintain the garden beds in top condition.

Hi Tania! This is an unrelated question, I just wasn't sure how else to ask so you would see my question... I saw another comment you wrote about using betta stone benchtops, and I was wondering what your review of it is? I am thinking about installing it as it's silica free and looks to be good, but there's not any reviews of it I can find-except your comment! Thanks Tania :)

I'd normally say go for a row of ornamental pears but I think it might look funny given your row of connifers as you don't want to look boxed in. I'd think about disguising neighbours with a single largish specimen tree in that side with lots of underplanting. You can't realistically block out all unattractive parts of outside your yard and what you really want to do is create interest in the foreground so it draws the eye in. Or else do the row of pears but create a bed in front of connifers and plant variety there (bearing in mind how connifers change soil acidity).