Do a houzz search on outdoor areas in photos.

I've done that, i just want to see what people on houzz think would be good to add!

Also the square area - what is it?

I like a bench or 2 -at some distance - to sit a few and see the view / read....

maybe with a path leading to it / and water feature.....

The square was for an above ground pool and the circle is for a fire pit but its fine to change or move. Also the table and stuff on the patio can be moved or just sold to get new stuff. I'm basically starting from scratch here so anything, besides the patio and house, can go!

My idea was to put in two more square patios where the sand square is and where the tree is, take down the tree of course, and then put a pergola sort of thing over the patio where the tree is, then put a couple benches under that and a small center table. Put the pool on the patio were the sand once was and have a sidewalk out to a fire pit somewhere. Then along the front build a simple open fence and kinda close the whole thing off?

Actually we were thinking about cutting a section out of the tree sanding it and staining it so it looks nice and smooth and making it into a small table, I live in northern California so we have trees all around this one was just to tall and to close to the house

It will probably help to see a diagram going forward.

Question : with extra 'squares' are you aiming for a wrap around living space?

But a farther off area too - what ages are your children? Need a swing or fort?

Here's a very poorly drawn diagram but this is what I was thinking and no small kids just teenagers so anything to hang out with friends would be good, that's why we wanted to build the fire pit

Thanks. This is a back yard of course, but checking about views, both good and bad {trash cans} toward edge of your property? and beyond that? what to preserve/ highlight?

You mentioned pergola - what about sun control?

Will they ever play lawn games so much so that you'd want / though costly/ a rubber court?

I would say you should put brick pavers where they can match the exterior of the home and the fireplace if you intend to add, I would say this because with brick pavers you can have matching colors plus where ever you put the benches, and it would be easy to clean later on when the their is winter,fall or summer with an easy powerwash machine while putting concrete It would be permeate ,would crack in given number of years depending of psi and other ratios.

Yours Truly

Purewall Contractors Inc

Nicholas looks like an awesome place to live, with amazing scope to create perfect hang out spaces for the whole family! Curious to know if is there a reason why you prefer the above ground pool so close to the house? Thinking if this was my yard for my 4 kids being teenagers, I'd like to see some gorgeous lawn, winding paths down to the pool away from the house abit, and with lots of seating zones...ie the fire pit with seating when they all want to hang out together, a pergola somewhere else to lie down on a daybed, or a bench under the tree for a quiet read.

Hammock - I forgot!

Thanks everyone! And yeah we have to have an above ground pool just cause it gets to cold up here and it's nice having it right off the porch, we will put grass in but probably not a rubber court or anything...we have a lot more room in the back yard for open area and a front yard as well. We also have two hammocks and lots of other trees to sit under. As for fire pit we were gonna put rock bricks to form a center circle and the same rock bricks to form a bench around the outside half of the circle.

It sounded like you guys liked the tree so I'm sorry to say but we did take it down, but we had to cause like I said it was just to close to the house and leaning towards it. We have another shaded area with the hammocks and stuff a little ways from the existing patio.

people usually experience their yards visually more than physically. Pay attention to where your eyes naturally focus from your most used spots inside, and make sure you have something attractive there. Rather than scattering recreational items around your yard, think about what you cannot do in your yard that you'd like to be able to do. That will tell you what you need to plan for.

Also, be careful about circular shapes close to squares or rectangles. Make sure that a strong radii from the circle lines up with the square edge. For example, suppose you wanted a circular patio to connect to your rectangle. The imaginary point of the rectangle should intersect the circle at the mid point. This photo is of a patio/fire pit I did several years ago.

The circle is the seating for the lp fired fire pit and it's hard to tell, but there are steps leading up to it.

New pictures of what the project looks like currently....

Is Yardyoulove saying [and I'm looking at your 1st photo] - ideally your circle should be straight out from porch's corner post [through square]? and hitting middle of circle like the stick of a lollipop....

anyone there like making artsy things for an area off from the house?

Yeah I looked at it and I think that would be smart, and yeah artsy stuff isn't a problem, what did you have in mind?

But you know your yard and trees - no saying a path couldn't meander out to the middle of a clearing that wouldn't be that method. Farther away the less it'd matter I think...

Have you seen the rusty metal sculptures done in SoCa. in areas like Anza Borrego Park? Nice and something to enjoy outdoors!! Not as large as a horse necessarily. :)

Something to enjoy from a distance and up close - like a museum and a work of art / far and near and dear. Seems I've seen a large arbor through which you see a nice view in distance a bit. Flowers down the path, or in your case, flowering shrubs trees more likely.

If you're still taking ideas, a night-lit Japanese maple is beautiful. I bought cheap Target solar spotlights which stopped working, but if you wanted to have night viewing that'd be nice for you...and a destination down the path to it if you installed a nice curve of those solar spots too. This time not straight out the gate!