It's lovely, but if it were my yard (nice house!), I would want some taller plants worked in there for visual effect. It looks too flat but maybe that's the way you want it. The color splashes and different varieties of plants are nice. My neighbors did their whole front yard and both side yards in hosta and heuchera. It is shaded and looks nice, but overkill. Now I see they have the grass shaved off and neatly levelled bare soil on the part where you have killed yours. I don't have any ideas for what to put there. I'm thinking of doing the same thing because I don't have enough full-sun spots for my flowers, but I don't want to just plant it willy nilly, and I don't want portulaca no matter how fancy it is, I like have something nobody else does but complementary to what grows natively in my zone. I don't know about moving the rhododendron, but some fullness and small flowering trees nearer the house might be an idea like dogwood or redbud. I've no idea what that one name you mentioned is. Also there's no real accent like a bird bath or shepherd's hook for a feeder/hanging basket or anything like that. I don't care for garden statuary, but a lot of people like it. It needs something though. I wouldn't recommend a gazing ball, but I broke down and got one and perched it on a makeshift trellis for my clematis so I hope it will just show a little bit. Sigh. I wish I hadn't seen that dead grass. Are you going to use a tiller? I want to strip off the sod and till it but am afraid because there are some utility lines under there, don't know how deep but do know where they are. Now all the above is from a novice POV as I'm not trained for landscaping and don't have a particular knack for putting things together right so bear that in mind. I do know what I like when I see what others have done.

The amelanchier does look good there, and will certainly fill in nicely. I originally backed the cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' for contrast, but it does look nice as you have it. But perhaps the rhodie corner can host a japanese maple (acer palmatum) for that contrast--maybe a weeping variety would be nice. There are hundreds of choices there, and it's tough to go wrong.

AJ, is that Honeysuckle? How pretty! Our's is blooming now, it's white, but the blooms don't last long then it looks like weeds. I grow Petunias but they don't do well. Everything I grow is super easy. Everything I plant blooms profusely all summer. If not, I won't plant it. lol Knock Out Roses- Floribunda Roses (my first year) Cosmos (first year and they've tripled in size already) Carpet Roses- Zinnias Coneflowers Tickseed or coreopsis Hydrangea, the easy one, forget it's name. Dianthus, the real colorful mounds you see Impatiens for shady areas Caladium, which I'll be planting more of. They thrive in front of the porch with morning sun. I still have other plants to buy! My dh planted a large plot of wildflowers so I can't wait to see them. They're on the other side of the garage which you can't see in the picture.

You should paint the gutter downspouts to match the brick. With white window trim, it seems unnecessary to paint the white fascia and white horizontal gutter. If the well and septic tank are NOT being used, they'll only be a potential impediment to your digging not a prohibition of it. If you run into an unused well or septic tank pipe, you can simply cut through it. Electrical wires would be a different issue. Rather than a "patio" against the house, you might well be better served to create a front porch all across that "area under question" between the two front wings of the home -- a porch that you can use by exiting via the front door rather than adding a new forward facing door. Even if you stay with the patio idea rather than creating a wide front porch, resist the temptation to add a second forward facing front door to your home. If you create a patio beside your front porch, make it larger than the "area" of loose dirt and don't limit it to a rectangle against the home. A larger window in the dining room might, however, be worthwhile -- perhaps even a different kind of window if you want to create a pass thru to your porch or patio. Remove the loose soil -- what appears to be rich planting soil -- from that "area" (to be repurposed for either filling in a low place or to be used in a raised flower bed elsewhere). You want to have hard ground and stable rock beneath your new porch or patio. For a porch, if you choose a treated deck board floor, you'll need to have the ground beneath it sloped away from the house. If you choose a concrete porch floor -- which which will last longer, be easier to maintain (and, therefore, be more economical long term -- that removed soil will most likely be replaced with gravel before any concrete floor is poured (rather than pouring a thicker slab of concrete). A concrete floor porch will require a footing and foundation across the front and, if it extends beyond the two wings of the house, on the sides as well. Any removed loose topsoil will likely be replaced with gravel before the concrete is (rather than pouring an unnecessarily thicker concrete pad). You'll want any porch or deck or patio to be not less than six feet deep. That depth surface will enable you to set chairs on it and still walk by them the full length of it. For a porch roof, you could raise the front half of your roof between the two front wings of the home to cover the area of the new porch. https://rgbconstructionservices.com/hip-roof-vs-gable-roof-best-home/  Another option would be to create a concrete porch floor between the two front wings of the home that extends to a point even with the front edge of the front wall of the home -- but ONE step down from your existing stoop floor -- to use as a part of an uncovered patio now but that might be covered for use as a porch later. You could then create a third patio level with a sidewalk (that is at or closer to existing sidewalk level) to be used as your permanent patio, with that sidewalk leading lead away from the front entrance toward the left side of the yard (away from the driveway side of the yard). You could face the front edge and sides of both the existing front stoop and the new future front porch with stone (or brick) https://www.google.com/search?q=Front+yard+patio+by+porch&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkkPaJkovlAhVBSN8KHeQNAQwQ_AUIESgB&biw=1328&bih=617#imgrc=EZ5cIofdfse1pM:&spf=1570485418994 and then use that same material to begin to create your actual FRONT YARD patio. https://www.houselogic.com/photos/yard-patio/front-yard-patio-ideas/slide/patio-as-focal-point/