There is a link to a Youtube video showing the small patio at the bottom of this post.

I would like to reduce maintenance further without making it look too barren.

The area is zone 8A with hot, dry summers and cool winters with, at most several days a year of frost.

This current layout looked good at first, but I'm tired of replacing wood mulch that loses color after a few months, weeding and trimming branches. Also, most of these plants other than the tall junipers go dormant in the winter and either look ugly, drops a lot of leaves that need to be picked up or both.

I would also like to add a little more usable space so I can add a small bbq grill and a large cantilever umbrella (instead of a permanent patio cover) without losing much of the already limited space.

I want to keep the tall junipers because they provide privacy and shade and don't go dormant in the winter, but I don't care about ripping out most of or all the other plants.

There is some Mexican landscaping pebbles that are already existing that maybe I could expand and take the place of all the mulch and add some zero or near-zero maintenance small, decorative plants in a few places to keep it from looking bare and uninviting.Maybe something like this house {{gwi:287643}}
Maybe I could add some large patio stones that could be used as a platform for a bbq in the area to the left of the a/c unit and maybe something similar in the corner by the fence to put the base of an umbrella.

I also want to really discourage weeds.

Any better ideas to reduce maintenance?

Is more rock the best idea or would I be better off with rubber bark or something else?

Here is a link that might be useful: Patio Video