I am looking for some ideas on how to redo the landscaping in the backyard of a house I am renovating. Currently, there is a screened in porch off the back of the house with a few steps down to a brick patio behind the garage. The brick patio looks good in the picture, but it has settled and created a tripping hazard over time. Some of the bricks will be used in the front for a new walk way and to border the driveway. The problem I have is that we are going to turn a window in the master bedrooom into a door with steps down to a patio in the backyard. the master bedroom window is behind the small tree to the left of the screened in porch in the picture. We have two small dogs who are having trouble with full size steps as they are getting older. It is about a 3 foot drop from the threshold of the door down to the yard, and the yard has a fairly decent slope away from the house. I was thinking of using a long retaining wall across the entire back of the house with a few planting beds and a couple sets of long low steps, or areas with a sod ramp.

Any other ideas about how to tie the screened in porch to a new patio behind the master and how or where it would be best to create the long low steps for the dogs would be greatly appreciated.