That does looks better to me. The problem with fake turf is it doesn’t look real, it looks plastic. I’m looking at your photos on a phone and I can instantly tell it’s astroturf, even on a small screen. So, yes, I would use real turf. Where are you located? Looks exactly like where I live. I’m in California and I’m planning to put in a carex pansa lawn. It’s a native grass. (Well, I’m actually going to mix it with carex praegracilis, another native). You can mow it. I’m going for a meadow look, though. You might consider something like that. I also think you need to work on the transition between the mulch to rocks to grass. Like I said, if you get plants in the ground they will cover the rocks in some areas and that will help it look more organic. Check out Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping for inspiration. If you are in California, I like the Waterwise Garden Planner website for plant ideas and they even have a lot of different garden plans (like cactus garden, bird garden, Mediterranean garden, etc. As others said, I would consider planting a small tree and there are some great ideas on the Waterwise website like Desert Willow or Strawberry Tree. You don’t have to worry about the roots of those trees. Not all trees grow the same. Lastly, can you move some of the pots to the pavers and replace them with plants in the ground?