I've had quite a bit of fun today moving furniture around to try out everyone's wonderful ideas. I have decided that the dining room needs to stay where it is, as it doesn't quite work with the hall which adjoins. I have moved the china cabinet over to the smaller wall though, as someone suggested and added a house plant here and there - it looks right. Not sure yet if I will go for a large buffet or a reading nook, but a large rug for the dining area is definite, as is art on that large wall. Now to decide ... one large piece or a collection?

Got a minute? I offer a few words of advice. You have already run the roof drains into a drywell, bravo. Remove the stepping stone shortcut to the driveway. Move the trashcan to the service area, replace your light fixtures with LIGHT FIXTURES. Set up a small table with two or three chairs in the well of the red brick terrace, your outdoor room, for morning coffee with the neighbors as you work on your design and later work on its implementation. Analysis first, then design. Call "Miss Utility" or whatever you call the agency that will send someone out to mark your underground utilities. Have sidewalk chalk and surveyor's flags handy when they arrive, so you can attempt to prevent them from marking the routes with their spray paint, especially on the pavements. Take a copy of the official engineer's plat of your property, that you recieved when buying the property, and increase it to a usable size on graph paper as a base sheet for the information gathering to follow. On a vellum or tracing paper overlay, add all the improvements not shown on the plat beneath - the utility runs, above and below ground, the site improvements, building additions, edges of plant beds, walls, slopes, steps, trees, basketball posts, pool, tennis court, mark it all, so you can later indicate what to remove from the existing. Be sure to include a north arrow and, outside the property a morning sun and a setting sun, with a curving line indicating its daily path. Ask everyone in the family, and perhaps regular visiting friends to list all that they would personally like to see included in your site development plans - no ideas to be rejected from these wish lists, but only a limited few will be included in the first phase of development. Walk around the neighborhood, around your site, make a tour inside the house of all the window and doorway views, upstairs and down. Indicate on your coversheet those views you wish to block, screen or enhance. You are ready now to draw a schematic plan, upon which to attempt to marry all the existing site information with the initial phase of desired activities of the family and friends. a) On a sheet of vellum or tracing paper, bring through the existing engineer's data, the utility alignments. Make an indication, like the squiggle of a hair-roller where you want to block the view, maybe a note like bad view or block view. In similar fashion, a broad arrow pointing toward a desirable view you wish to maintain. Mark an area offsite that indicates a point from which your house is first seen by arriving guests. b) With a series of appropriate-sized circles, mark where you hope to include various activities. Outdoor family cooking and dining, perhaps a different area for entertaining guests outdoors. Mark where the different sports activities might be appropriate, many of which require only an open level lawn area (or sandy beach). If you have infants or infants of quests, indicate a spot you can monitor from kitchen and office windows. Does the husband want a horse-shoe court, a bocce court, a 3-hole putting green to compete with his guests? Since this is an older home, many of these spaces will be defined, but may not suit your family's needs. Indicate some to be changed in phase one, others to wait a few years while you tackle the front yard enhancements. Take this schematic plan to the copy center and have them make 3 or 4 copies for you. Store the original along with all the info gathered for its preparation in a safe place. The copies are to be kept handy for distribution and for your own use. Talk with the large local garden center to have a landscape designer come out to meet with you for a couple hours while you go over all the specific activities of phase one, which might include regrading, new walls, tree transplanting, pavements, water features, whatever. If you have prepared a list of plants and trees that you would be interested in sharing your home with, now or in the future, copy that for the designer as well. Do not prejudge by comments like formal or informal. You are your own site planner. You now need the help of a plantsman and contractor. It will probably only cost $100 or so for the initial planning, as they will be receiving 10-15% commission on what ever you spend at their garden center. Have another coffee in your outdoor room. Good luck!

Hi Mark, Lisa's work would look good but I would like to see some warmer colours in there. If you have any current pieces try them to help you define what you like and the proportion needed. Until you find the right thing - [on Appro hopefully] you could pick up a vintage mirror to reflect some light . You could pick up on your metallic tones in the table bases. Oval or round would look good and don't be afraid to go a bit fancy or ornate to pick up the luxe vibe in the ottoman.[ which is crying out for a faux fur throw] Set aside some time to wander in some galleries to see what you like but equally there are a number of online galleries and you can choose your framing - but I would avoid too much black. If you go to a framer with your piece take some snaps of the space to help them advise you- many framers are artists and have a good eye for detail and balance. I would add some textured rust / copper toned cushions to warm up the scheme. You may find that dealing with these details removes the need for artwork until you make a magic find one day- it doesn't have to happen immediately - the best art is the piece you stumble upon and just have to have. Good luck

The laundry has 2 doors , which means 1/3rd of the shown space isn't useful . Kate has suggested having the external door out from the 'gap' , which makes sense , and I assume a window above the tub or similar for light ? Having the external door opening outwards ( no matter where you position it ) means you get more interior space too , but also a bit easier to seal for wind and rain too . But if you moved the laundry wall 'right' , and had an outwardly opening door from the laundry to the WIP 'foyer' ( the space outside the WIP can't really be used except for access ) you'd have a smaller laundry footprint , but be able to have more storage , maybe a drop down ironing board etc too . But also , I wonder if you'd be better to make the WIP effectively 2 parts -- one that gets the natural light from the glass door , and then move the wall further in so the existing one that is darker for light sensitive items ? It may look less tidy , but conversely the existing design is going to mean the pantry will always be quite dark , unless you add a skylight or similar ? just a thought .