I agree with your husband. It does nothing for the front of your house. I don't think it is worth moving because it is so lopsided. (It is a Japanese maple.)

Japanese maples are cheap, this one is in the wrong place, it will not survive a transplant. Cut it down and move on.

Wasn't aware of the two trees in front. No need to put another. Thought it was just a large expanse of a lawn.

Please post your before, during and after. We love to see!

Avoid the overly-complicated squiggly lines that sometimes result from using a hose to make curves. It works much better to better to use a post and string to draw curves that are simpler. This website has examples of what I mean, and tells how to do it. Don't be afraid to make large planting beds and use evergreen shrubs that will spread wide.

Your house has such pleasant proportions and will look even better with new landscaping.

Do you have a path to the front door from the driveway? I can't see one in your pictures.

https://notanothergardeningblog.com/2012/05/01/curves-wonderful-curves-good-lines-mean-good-designs-part-2/

https://notanothergardeningblog.com/2012/04/11/good-lines-mean-good-designs/

Is the carpet blue or gray? It looks purple on my screen too. When you look at neutrals for the bedding, see whether warm or cool neutrals look best i.e. white vs cream. Lyn's picture looks great but the wood colour is not orange at all.

Simply changing the bedding and removing all the red & orange accessories will transform the room with your light taupe walls and taupe carpet.

btydrvn and lisedv, I don’t know how you did what you did to visually demonstrate the changes, but I really do appreciate it. I’m daunted by all of this but will focus on the task at hand. Thank you!!

You have to understand that this forum gets posts from distressed wives about this subject all the time. When I respond to them I say that technology is such that all that equipment can be hidden and controlled with an app. I tell them how I deal with my own component closet heat by pumping the heat down under the raised foundation.

You both walked right into this with your eyes open. Now we could blame your wife for agreeing to display something that doesn't need to be displayed but it sounds like you bait and switched her. You got her to pick the expensive speakers but surprise... they need to be 4 feet away from the wall! Then you knew she'd expect a 18" wide amplifier that is 7 inches tall but you brought home TWO 200 pound amplifiers the size of two 3 foot long logs on stands.

I personally would have waited because AI is going to render your equipment obsolete in the next couple years.

I think service berry is the same as Saskatoon berry. I do have that also, in the back yard. We usually have enough berries picked and frozen that last until late January.

Thank you all for your comments and compliments about the facade of the house. Thank you @partim for your landscaping idea. I will consider some tall plants to block those downspouts.

Turn on the lights and additional pics are needed.

Thanks for adding more photos. Here are some items for consideration before you amend anything. Your TV appears disconnected from the seating/viewing area. Where do you and others sit when viewing TV, and is it comfortable? Your bar / fireplace look fine as is, but if you wanted to add some interest paint the bar wall behind the shelves the same blue as the feature wall to provide cohesiveness and draw the eye from one to the other. Do not and and texture or pattern, the bar items already add the contrast. The fature wall area and slider looked cramped. Can the shelving find another space in (or) out of the house? From the photos it appears one would have to plan a route before entering or leaving the room via the patio. Go on vacation 😜 then come back and look at the room with fresh eyes before making changes.

I think it would look good. I don't find all that zig zag staircase wood particularly attractive, compared to your attractive fireplace. You have plenty of room for step-down traffic paths on either side of the the sofa. Safety-wise I think the sofa in that position would make it more obvious that there is a step there, not less.

@ BeverlyFLADeziner Thank you again. This really does help my choice. After reading yours and all other comments I think it is wise to go smaller in length which would give us more flexibility when it comes to positioning sofa/chairs around the fireplace without obstructing views or entryways. I'm closing the chapter on the 8.3 ft sofa as I feel like I'm trying to hard to 'make it fit' just bc I love it.

Thanks again for all of your feedback. Will look at something around 75-84 inches in length.

@ qam999 agreed. I just don't have the clearance space to put behind the sofa because I've only got 10.5 ft to work with and I'm just squeezing everything in. I think it is probably best to choose a smaller sofa after all.