Analysis first, then plan, as Tookoo recommends. Use native plants, as neotoma recommends. Get specific plant recommendations locally, as Terri & sgelade recommend. Here is my two cents worth, for the shortterm. a. Remove and stockpile the lawn edging and most of the mulch back against the fences. b. Take a can of spray paint, or a bundle of surveyor's flag, and mark the largest circular or curved form that will fit within the fenced areas, no matter where the trees stand (inside or outside of the line) to form the temporary edge of your lawn area. See if the entire family agrees on the alignment or just do what looks best to you as the Senior Gardener. c. Add the wood edging to the new edge, or, it will look a lot better if the edge is not visible, using a steel edge whose top edge is down just above the grass roots and no longer visible, and not an impediment to the lawn mower. (when you form the plant beds, you will dig down a couple inches at the edge, where it meets the steel, and then slope the bed up from there, and the mulch will be contained at the level of the lawn, beyond) My recommendation, after you call in your landscape advisor, is to fill the beds totally with ground cover, beneath the shrubs, so no mulch will be seen after the two years of plant growth, using only a finer textured mulch which will become part of the soil bed. (Maybe the bark mulch will smell good in your new fire pit, along with the wood edging.) d. Plant the entire area with grass seed or sod and enjoy the beauty. The curved edge will make the space appear and feel larger and will decrease the maintenance of the smaller bed areas. On the subject of tree placement: analyse first, then plan. Look at all the views beyond your fenceline from all windows of the house, the living/ dining areas, all the bedrooms, to enhance the good views and to block the big, the bad, and the ugly. The large trees on your list will block views from the upper windows, The small horizontally branched trees will be a piece of sculpture in your downstairs view throughout the year, while their flowering and fragrance yet another reason to be alive. For instance, if you have an attractive small tree that has attractive flowers and foliage, PLUS has attractive bark color and has a sculptural quality in the off-season, you won't have to visit the museum quite as often, with a sculpture garden right out your window.

We had a similar experience about 30 years ago. Along with that same pine tree we had a huge full blue spruce right next to it in front of our house. Both trees were full with branches right to the ground, healthy & beautiful. It made our house disappear & look like a matchbox house & prevented light to come in. Both were 75' tall & growing nonstop. It started to affect our pipes. I don't like cutting down healthy trees. I began calling some large landscape companies asking them if they'd take them. One company had a customer who wanted live trees as a fence & barrier in an expensive suburb near Boston. They gave me a price & thought it was fair. We were really happy they wouldn't be destroyed. What a day it was when they came to remove those trees! Neighbors came over & cars driving by pulled over to watch. It was fascinating how a huge machine fit around the tree & lifted it up, roots impact & no damage at all. It took two days & the landscaper handed us a check which paid for filling those very large & deep holes. IMO I'd leave the tree for the new owners to decide whether to remove it or not. It's not that uncommon as you'd think.

you are super-patient!!! :) :) thank you :) I'm so sorry but I do actually have a couple MORE thoughts!! argh! there are just so many different options.... and this is a bit of an all consuming puzzle to try to solve. here they are: 1) study could become main bathroom - leaving new Bed 4 as per plan since it is bigger & a better size for guests. in this option, some area could be stolen from the study to boost ensuite size - even if it just made the ensuite 1 full metre. Ideally not requiring study window to change. 2) WC could potentially be separate either within this space OR at the back of the old kitchen (allowing for the remaining, longish hall wall to be shorter again) oklouise you may think some of these ideas are not very workable & I'd be so glad for your feedback & comment (and anyone else's comments as well), it's really so incredibly helpful - unbelievably helpful - to have everyone's input. i'd love recommendations on which ideas & options might work best for that balance between function & budget

Bear in mind that lawn needs to be mowed. How practical will that be in that tiny courtyard? If you want to remove the tiles I would be inclined to put gravel and stepping stones down with a walkable creeper in patches. There's a good amount of sun there so you should be okay with many choices. Choose a variety that works well in part-sun with a nice fine leaf. Thyme is actually a fantastic ground cover that smells great when you walk on it, tiny leaved, loves to be in dry places and is covered in masses of either white or purple flowers at the end of summer. At the moment your plantings are a bit more spanish than french, which is fine you could take inspiration from Riveria places like Nice. To go a bit more french I would swap out the succulents for either lavenders or roses or both! Both will work beautifully with the geraniums and olive tree. I purchased a beautiful lavender this year called Forte from Bunnings. It's a spanish styled lavender with the big petals on the flower head and is the most vivid shade of violet imaginable. Very fast growing in 6 weeks mine have doubled in size. Nice low mounding variety that will look good in pots. Floribunda roses are ideal for courtyards and small spaces as the bush only reaches around 80cm high and sends our bunches of roses on the bush. Floribunda means abundant flowers. I would avoid hybrid tea's as they are a large bush with loads of thorns. Or a climber would be good there too. My personal favourite is Lady of Shallot. But I also have one called Hot Cocoa which is very special and a floribunda. Roses love courtyards especially near a brick wall that radiates heat onto the bush. It keeps blackspot away because water never accumulates on the actual bush due to the heat. We associate roses with England but actually they come from the middle east and are a hot and dry country plant.