Speak with the contractor that's going to do the flagstone work and ask him for a solution.

@BeverlyFLADeziner- We were planning on doing the flagstone ourselves.

@Carole Vaudable Interior Design Thank you, those are all good ideas. The footing near the path is so close that it is going to be hard to fit anything between it and the path.

Here you can see our pergola base(s). The footings were formed square making the task a bit easier. We wrapped the column and in doing so hid the stand-off column support.

I agree the flagstone will make this a bit less obvious but the idea of the box after is IMO the best and have you ever installed flagstone ?/ I see no prep done for such a thing so why I ask. You needed that type of footing for such a heavy build .

I really think once everything is installed, painted and landscaped it will be fine - it’s just in the ugly duckling stage

In my experience that is somewhat standard practice although with column footings on our projects we usually have less footing sticking out of the ground. The suggestions you've been given about boxing out around the footings are good ones. You could even use stone to surround the footings as well as wood.

Here is a way to address the situation, keep the patio stone away from the base of the colomns and landscape around the concrete bases.

I would not recommend placing wood around the base as my experience has been that the wood wicks the water up the column and before you know it you've got a problem with rotting columns.

Here are two piece planters that fit around columns.

https://www.wayfair.com/home/pdp/august-grove-millennium-park-pot-planter-lmep1000.html?piid=61322592

https://www.homedepot.com/p/M-Rock-P-Series-6-x-6-Elk-Creek-Ledge-Post-Surround-Concrete-Stone-Veneer-mrelkcreek6x6/313353227

https://www.architecturaldepot.com/EA08SSRNSCNA.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20001847583&utm_content=&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA6t-6BhA3EiwAltRFGLj3W9CkvG2V9tcY5yyYh85BzyGwIGH8-xw-ecTQG0YGx0QjNtcqHRoCCUMQAvD_BwE

https://www.deckexpressions.com/stone-post-covers/?srsltid=AfmBOoptYEKw1Co4hcjAfLfSjUgDoPZoK_3TSMi6MmuiTzQbfo8_2-mw

@fnmroberts That looks great. I wish they would have done square footings, didn't know to ask for that before the build.

@Patricia Colwell Consulting Unfortunately the post is so close to the walkway I don't think we can build a box around it. We have not prepped yet for flagstone, still need to take out the current pavers.

@la_la Girl I hope so! Thank you for your optimism.

@BeverlyFLADeziner These are all great! Unfortunatly, I don't think they will work with our round footings and the footings being so close to the concrete path. Decorative plants in front of it might hide them a little. I love the stone facings, but would have to make them round somehow.

why?

Lots of DIY videos on Youtube...

You can easily build a square box around a round object.