Perhaps if you look at your outdoor spaces as outdoor rooms, it may help you personalize and organize the areas. What I see in the photo is a small front yard divided in half, and a tree placed exactly in the center of the other half, within a little square of bed. I expect you would not do that with an interior room. A visitor will be compelled to race down the hallway to the front door, and probably not even notice the tree, since it is not part of a composition, a furniture grouping. You enter your living room to a welcoming composition of a furniture grouping, lamps, pictures on the wall, drapes (I hope) on the windows. You get the idea. Would you put a post lamp in the middle of an empty room? It would tend to diminish the size of the space and it's usefulness as a space. Would you put a carpet down the center of a room? -- only if you were creating two separate scenarios of equal size. You need some on-site advisers, whether they be landscape architects or interior designers, someone or more than one who will offer their experienced suggestions for you to consider, but not immediately act upon. You need to live with your new spaces and walk through their ideas for weeks, or months, before making a decision on how to proceed. Perhaps it would help you to read the thoughts of some international designers like Bunny Williams, with her book, On Garden Style, where you will get the feeling that the views of the outside rooms from within the house are as important as the views from the street. You will want to move the maple out of its central location, remove the central path, - and the conifers scare me. You really have a very small space up front here. Take a look in the park at the size of a mature conifer. They will occupy your yard and that of your neighbor, as they develop as nature intended. They are very beautiful, a work of art, but space-consuming. You may have room in the back yard, but be careful when blocking the magnificent views from within the house. Perhaps you will provide an entrance to your outdoor room over to the right, near your property line, with the tree, the lamp post, a small chair or bench, a bed of small plants that have beauty and fragrance throughout the seasons - a space you would like to sit in yourself, perhaps have coffee with the neighbor, or the kids hang out with a pal. Then have the walk work its way over toward the entrance area - not the door, but the welcoming area before the door, slow them down to enjoy the sequence, while providing a most pleasant view of this area from within. Make the plantings permanent, with no soil or mulch to show, after two years, as the groundcover plants mature and cover the beds. Keep all the annual plants in containers, to be stored away if empty, so the views of your spaces are not distracted by an open area in the bed where the annuals have departed, or an empty pot. Consider excluding your auto from your outdoor room, your welcoming area. You don't have room for a real screen, so just a suggestion, as a small hedge or plant bed to stop the eye before it gets to the drive. Perhaps the view beyond the drive is attractive, so all you need to filter from the view is the driveway pavement itself, as the car belongs in the garage, yes? Sometimes a little perimeter fence with a gate says welcome to my special space. In your case perhaps a darker color, not the typical white, which would be a high contrast to the house and not appropriate here, grabbing all the attention. What I have offered may be of no use to you, however, the intent of my words is to provoke you to analyze first, then plan. Consider alternatives from all viewpoints before deciding how to proceed, as these spaces and plants will be a part of your life for many years. Good luck to you. Continue the process at the tortoise pace, not the hare.

Treasure it for the gem of a 1940s/50s home it is, complete with glorious wrought iron work. Suggestions have been made as to how to boost the height to meet current building codes. You will regret updating the exterior for what is likely to be a one that will date quickly and be higher maintenance . It is only a matter of time until such homes are as treasured as Victorian terraces or Californian bungalows. It is an icon of its time. Accept it for what t is. Why make your house look like a fashion victim of 2019, when it stands in almost the full glory of its original period? It will also save you a fortune too! But yes, minimise the concrete! and add a garden that refects the period the house was built. Roses if you like them, with maybe a magnolia or crepe myrtle feature tree but for lower maintenance try some architectural and ground covering succulents. You could also go with edibles like feature citrus and olives for a Mediterranean feel.

I put a lot of thought into what kind of sink to install ino my new kitchen: single vs double, stainless steel vs other materials, dish drainer or not, and finally undermount vs top mount. I went safe and chose industrial grade steinless steel, double sink without a drainer but with aditional part with multi purpose. I was very indecisive about the last thing: undermount vs top mount sink and finally decided after reading this - I will go top mount.

I have a separate guest toilet without windows using a ceiling extractor fan - not a problem. I also have internal cavity sliding doors to bathrooms and toilets and love how they give extra space and options regarding placement of items. Another location alternative for you may be between the cinema room and the kitchen, depending on what you had planned for that extra space in the kitchen. Two metres is a wide hallway, if that is what it is? Ours is 1.3 which is considered wide (as we need to accommodate a wheelchair which has to turn into doorways). An advantage of a very wide hallway is it gives room for extra furniture placement such as bookshelves, linen or other cupboards if needed. I don't see a linen cupboard or pantry cupboard in your plans. Something else to think about is future proofing - try to cover future possibilities with regard to function, as making structural or fittings changes later can be more expensive, and may come at a time when you can least afford it (e.g. injured, disabled, children, aging or other such people visiting your home). Lives change, sometimes over time, sometimes in an instant, and suddenly the doors are not wide enough (especially the toilet door!), or the walls are not strong enough for a weight-bearing rail, and a host of other things. We put 900cm doors as a minimum and it makes life a lot easier, including moving furniture in and out. Universal Design principles are worth a look. Sadly these considerations are currently considered special or optional, although there are moves to change that, so that builders and architects will consider these things as standard.