Susie, this type of problem is becoming a regular issue/post here. The issue is that the design process is not robustly managing the practical costs appropriately to budget, and also managing client's expectations of what can be achieved for certain budget limits. All projects involve balancing requirements to budget in specific context. There will be structural costs either way. The question is rather, how best to maximise the investment in regards to the functional benefits and overall result. If you want my 2 cents I'm never a fan of squeezing down flow into areas such as dining spaces and creating internal doglegged corners unless it serves a specific function. It's a strange (poor) set-up to have the the only external access via the dining room that you have to walk past the island bench and negotiate living room furniture etc. There's however no furniture in this plan which doesn't help us fully understanding the design or functional rationale behind the proposal. I think it's good to take the opportunity to re-think this. We are finding increasingly that we are being asked to come in and sort issues like this out properly when clearly the design process hasn't been managed properly. Don't mean to be overly critical however the fact is it had been designed properly then you wouldn't be posting your problem on a design dilemma forum. If you're interested in hearing further about how we could professionally assist you in resolving the design solution feel free to contact us directly for further discussion and details. There's not a quick answer to this as it involves understanding details of your requirements, budget and context in order to provide the appropriate advice. The best advice I can provide is you need to be working with a design professional who is experienced with these types & scale of projects and inherently understands the cost consequences of design decisions one way or the other. In your case you require a clever simple solution that balances, connects and maximises both the internal and external functional requirements. I can think of various configuration options that could achieve this general requirement of living/kitchen dining but making much better use of your land on a tight site, retaining/maximising the external space required or even better still give the illusion that it's bigger than it is by exploiting the site length - however this requires a deeper and proper level of design service than just a few comments provided here. I've been involved with trouble shooting this type of situation on numerous occasions and in order to get it right it unfortunately requires us coming in, unpicking it and going backwards to go forwards, however I can confidently say it is always is worth the effort and investment as we ultimately need to be working to maximise the long term end result. Cheers PD :)

Your needs for your home should ultimately drive the decisions....it's tricky jumping in and out on these things, particular after a design process has already occurred, as the projects developed as a result of decisions over various aspects and prioritising of the various goals. Function should drive the decisions one way or the other - THEN we work out how to make it aesthetically/spatially balanced one way or the other..........whatever you do you need to have solid reasoning and justification for all decisions.............. regarding your carport structure, you may well come to the confident conclusion that open private outdoor space/landscaping is a better use of that area for your and your property and that's the best option for you. Be careful not to get confused by differing advice here and whilst all ideas can be valid, the risk is losing your bearing with your own goals. I could argue both sides, a real estate agent may say you're diminishing market value, but you as the owner may prefer a larger rear yard. Not right or wrong, just different priorities and perspectives...... Typically when it comes to this stuff, our instincts are the best compass........but be sure you have taken time to think through options and have the right info.....after years of doing this I can say instinct never fails, but less then ideal outcomes can occur by not trusting your gut Cheers PD

we completely enclosed an outdoor area with black shade cloth to create an insect proof space that was also warmer in winter, cooler in summer and also protected the space from all but direct horizontal rainfall for which we considered roll down clear plastic "bistro" blinds but rain water was never enough of a problem to justify the extra ..try screening the whole area and then consider adding external blinds or shutters

Thanks for the ideas so far, we will be completely rebuilding this area and building a whole new structure, which is why I really want to get it right with the materials and design. I think where we are coming unstuck is I love a more open area, but my husband wants to close it all in as currently in the winter the wind and rain all blow in and get everything wet. As far as colours do you think I should go with contrasting against the brick (like a mid grey)?