If I'm understanding correctly (which I may not be!) most of the problems will be solved if you go to a patio at grade rather than a deck. The french doors would be at the same height as the other door. You wouldn't be able to do a lot of trim around it, due to the height of the eaves, but you could still fit the doors. Btw, a deck and a patio are different things. I think when you say terrace, you may mean what I would call a patio? A deck is made of wood with structure underneath and is therefore raised above the ground (or else it wouldn't be a deck. I suppose theoretically you could excavate and put wood structure underneath and have the wood floor structure at grade, but I'm not sure why you would do that and I've never seen it that way!) A patio can be at grade or it can be above-grade with retaining walls - or even below-grade with retaining walls as a sunken patio. But, a patio would generally be made of a hard surface like concrete, stone, or brick pavers. A deck would be made of wood or imitation wood like Trex. That clear it up?

I'm an [amature, though I sell pieces from time to time] artist, so I intend to design my own. I feel the art of landscape design has been somewhat over mystified. I think its not unresonable to design your own, if you meet two conditions: First you know gardening-- what plants grow well in your neighborhood, water needs, growth rates and mature size, etc. Second, you need to understand enough about art that when you see landscapping you like, you are able to identify the reasons it succeeds, when you see one you don't, you can likewise give a detailed analysis of why it fails. If you understand the artistic principles of proportion, contrast, color, etc., and the gardening principles of planting according to mature sizes, grouping according to water use and exposure needs, I think you can do fine designing your own. But if you don't by all means get some help. Remember that you are hiring an artist, not a hole digger. You are essentially buying a picture you won't see completed for some years. It must suit YOUR taste, enhance YOUR property, express YOUR personality, not the landscappers. Be aware that there are trends in landscapping that get repeated relentlessly until they become bad cliches, just like in interior design. That said, I'd definetly go with something 'no mow' on that bank. Personally, I'd like a stacked stone retaining wall, with a few natural, low maintenence, wildflower looking plants like Red Ace potentilla. But that's me, thinking about my climate-- your area may offer many other possibilities, and your taste may be different.

I hear what some of you are saying (really), but this home really is a pretty good deal in the area. In this school zone, my options for a house this size are either a turn-key for about $600K (example 1) (example 2) (example 3) (example 4) OR I can get something that needs some work in the $400K range (example 1) (example 2) (example 3). With these options, this house became very attractive to me. It's one of the biggest options and it's in a very nice lakeside neighborhood with lots of updated homes (I don't want the nicest home on the block once I'm done.. that's the situation I am currently in). None of these $600K listings have $130K kitchens or $70K master baths... even the nicest homes in this area don't have that. My current home (less than a mile away) has a nicer kitchen than most of these homes and I paid $35K for it by buying cabinets and counters from the warehouses themselves and subcontracting the work myself... I also cashed in at HHGregg's going out of business sale on Kitchenaid's commercial style appliances. My master bath redo was about $7500. In this town, almost everything under $1M just has new cabinet doors slapped on with a fresh paint job and Whirlpool appliances, so a $130K kitchen is definitely way off base. I can put $125K into the inside of this house and it will be nicer than any of the similar sized (and most importantly, same school district) $600K homes... the inside is not my main concern as I have been there and done that (within the last year). My main concern was that the $600K homes I'm looking at (linked above) have more curb appeal.. which is how I got around to making this post.

A three season room, french doors to it? Call an architect. Footers, headers, permits, roof lines, and money. It isn't just "add a screened porch" . ..unless you use the one you have Otherwise? Buy a beautiful gazebo, and put it where it best suits the view. Enjoy in good weather with screens