Your plight is very similar to ours more than 15 years ago. A backyard waiting for something.

We planned, then built a brick paver patio. An egress porch covering the original steps was part of the plan, as was a free-standing pergola. Footings for these were installed in conjunction with the patio build. We don't experience any visual obstruction with the pergola from inside the house - it is approximately 14' from the house and 9' tall. Our patio is graded about 22" below the first floor.

Following completion of the patio, we paid a local nursury to design the flanking gardens.

I've linked photos of our patio and its' features. Comments are below some pictures. There is another album with more details about the pergola.

Hope this helps get you started. Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Patio

I don't know anything about decks and pergolas, and you don't say how old you are. As a senior citizen, though, I can tell you that it's awfully nice to have a deck that's level with the floor in the house so you don't have to go down any steps to get to it. Besides, you never know when someone in the family will break a leg. I'd say do a raised deck if you can.

catbird - I absolutely agree with you about a level surface for mobility. That's why we built "Landing Style" steps from our Egress Porch onto the patio. It makes for safe transit when carrying food or beverage. At the time we built ours, we had elderly relatives and pre-school age grandchildren visiting. Our design was to accommodate their needs yet not burden ourselves with maintainence of a large deck.

{{!gwi}}