How one furnishes an appoints will have a lot to do with NEED. How you will use the space will dictate what you do. Plants will either be outside that wall or in large (for low maintenance) containers. Have you no way or no interest in adding more shade? My patio in Florida is only as useful as there is shade. You're not showing enough of a picture to explain things you talk about or to give sense to the space. Overlapping pictures while the camera pivots explain best. Also, a picture from somewhat of a distance can explain context.

You can create shade options but I agree that first knowing how the space will be used will help with design ideas.

You mentioned “furnishings “? Do you have another outdoor space that you use ? If this only used as a entry, just a courtyard, I would finish it with oversized containers planted with drought tolerant succulents such as agaves, aeonium, things like that or, if your climate permits , dwarf or semi-dwarf citrus trees, olive trees, lavender... Mediterranean plants. Not too many little containers, just large scaled containers. If the fountain is staying, you could place a few chairs, maybe with a table, near it & place smaller containers clustered around it to give it more presence. It looks awfully lonely there. I assume you want something rather low maintenance if it’s not going to be used for anything other than an entry courtyard.

some ideas

Thank you everybody! Great ideas and feedback- yes, trees are going in next month outside courtyard wall to provide better scale and eventually shade. Love Dig Doug's photo! Thank you! This is the visual jump start needed! I appreciate all the contributions as it takes time away from your lives. If I knew more about technology I'd post more shots but the one photo is all I could figure out.

Happy holidays and the best of New Years!

Add more photos taken from farther away that show more of the space and how it relates to the rest of the house. Add them by adding a comment just like you did above, except add photos instead of words. There is a little camera labeled "photo" at the bottom of the comments box. Click on that, navigate to the place you stored the photos on your computer, click on the photo you want, wait until it appears in the comment box, and then repeat for as many photos as you have (up to 10). Then click the submit button.

You can do this now or wait until holiday celebrations slow down. With added photos you will most likely get other suggestions and ideas here.

You could also look at Houzz photos (link in the upper left corner of this page) and on the photos page there is a link under landscape for patios which may give some ideas.