You have done a beautiful job of tucking plants into the crevices of your retaining walls. Your house trim color is perfect -- just slightly lighter in hue than the retaining wall blocks. First I would paint the big, flat gray wall slightly lighter than the blocks and slightly darker than the house trim. The concrete walk and stairs I would stain a mottled blend of the blocks and the house trim colors. Next would be to paint the railing black or the house body color. Now, think of the following as creating a light, airy trellise structure from the walk-level face of the (currently gray) wall to about 7' above the top of the wall (using 6x6" posts attached to the wall) with a corresponding line of posts sunk into the terrace level 2' in from the outside edge of the wall-attached posts. The inside posts would be about 6-8" higher than the outside posts. Put 4x4" wood to attach the outside line of posts to each other and do the same with the inside line of posts. Run wood pieces at the top of the two lines of posts from the inside line to the outside line at about a 45 degree angle. They would be cantilevered up at the terrace level. Across the top of the angled pieces create your top trellise boards which run parallel to the two lines of posts. OK. There you have your basic structure. You might want to extend the structure around to follow the street side of the terrace. You could then follow the suggestion of reom10 above about creating a bench-planter on the terrace side. Your spacing of the boards parallel to the gray wall and attached to the outside posts would determine how private you wanted your terrace to be. You might want to soften the terrace "floor" by using something irregular like flagstone with groundcover plantings between the stones. From the latticework on top of your structure you could hang seasonal flower baskets. Plant vines to go up the trellis and spill down the wall. How about planting a row of tall, narrow shrubs along the neighbor's fence above your terrace to help add to your privacy and make your yard feel less 'structured'? Or, how about patio table/s with umbrellas to block your neighbor's view? Anyway, you have a fun project ahead of you.

An all weather outdoor shower is easily done by locating the mixing valve inside the house and use a coupling shaft to locate the handle on the outside. You must use a standard tub type lower faucet (with the pull up to activate the shower) to allow the system to drain out when the shower is done. You also have to make sure everything slopes in direction of the water flow. We live in Bancroft Ontario so winters are well below freezing and we have been showering outside for 3 winters. Only issue we have is the shower head will freeze so we typically remove it after a shower or shower without it on when really cold. The system has worked well and it helps that nothing special needs to be done by anyone. no inside valves to close etc. Just turn off tap and everything drains.

Hello, I don't what to say, I'm really surprised by your generosity and how much time you have put in this for me you. Thank you so much. The kids bathroom design is still up in air too. Their rooms will have windows of course ( silly me ). I love what you have done with the family room. I'm not so sure about the master ensuite. We copied it from the Hyatt hotel where we stayed a couple of months ago( they had 2 sinks though), we loved the fact that the whole family kids adults and pets can take a shower bath together. That's why we liked the tub bath combo enclosure. Your comments about the steam and aroma are very valid that's why I think we will need to have 3 extract fans in there. We are currently living in china but we will be done here within a year. Thanks again for your help.

Normally a hot tub comes with a means of heating the water, and maintaining it without having to empty the water. This is where water filtration and disinfection methods are worth it and less wasteful. It really doesn't matter whether it is stainless steel or not: you are heating up water to levels that naturally promote bacteria and algae. Hence the NEED for some type of disinfection - which can range from tossing in a chlorine table to add ozone or other types. I suggest you purchase a book entitled "What colour is Your Swimming Pool" 2003 edition. It will give you a practical guide to what you are looking for to maintain your spa tub and why you need to do it.