You could lay a nice curved shape garden by the corner of fence and plant layers starting with 2-3 mtr trees at back down to 50-70 cm high plants at front. This will soften the fence line and give you something to look at while on the slab. Something for the kids also like a small structure to play in, on and around would complete a nice family back yard. If you are handy you can make you own small play ground copying parts of a local ground or there are kit sets available. Good luck,

I meant to say if we clad in dark blue board and batten from ground level up to floor level of deck. I think if that side wall is all light coloured silvered cedar, the house will look mammoth. Ugh! The black stuff going down the side wall on an angle is water protector. It will be covered by whatever cladding we go with.

I am wanting to get a pool put in (not too big ~7.5m x4m) - the section slopes off quite a bit and the height of the house is about a story above the ground at its highest point. Im just after some ideas for layout and how to get a good flow from the deck above - there are 2 bigger decks (covered and uncovered plus the wrap around). The covered deck which has bbq and table and chairs is above the green water tank and connects with the kitchen nicely (id quite like to hide that tank somehow), the open deck connects with the lounge area inside. Long term plan is to have a covered space with outdoor kitchen, bathroom and space for dining and lounge settings beside the pool. It has a great view of the ocean from the house ( and the section below up to meter or 2 from the fence line). there is septic tank in line with the green water tank (so don't want to get too close to that). This is in the tropics, so shade and shelter is a must - the sun follows the open deck across to the covered deck side and the house is on the west more sheltered side of the island. Any ideas would be appreciated. The last picture is of the house in front, it is very close to the fence line, but is a lot lower down.

I want to place a 2.4 post into the ground and be able to get it out again. In and out, whenever I need to. HONESTLY... I've read 100 'solutions' on this but nothing that is verified or easy to work. Every 'solution' I find has some issue associated with it. So, my latest plan is to concrete a round PVC sleeve into the ground (cost there are no 100x100 sleeves), and put it in that. So, I need to figure out how to make 600mm of the end of the post perfectly circular. I'm thinking something to do with a router, but I don't have one and I don't know how to use one anyway. But, is this idea a good solution? I can take the post to a local building firm and they can make it round for me, but first I wanted to canvas the united DIY brains of NZ to see if there's anything else I have not considered. I'm not that good at DIY so it is highly likely there is an even easier way. Another question - I may be able to borrow a router table. What size and what kind of router bit would I need to buy to cut the round? I am assuming I would need to do four cuts; one for each edge. Thank all.