You don't say what zone you are in, but here in zone 7 they do grow large - like 8-10 feet tall. by 5-6 feet wide. You can, with diligent spring pruning, train them into tree form, which will allow some plants beneath them to grow. In spring you need to prune each branch to 4 nodes and remove any growth lower then what you want as the plant matures. In other words don't hack on it when it's young and just getting started. It needs the green growth to grow. Over the years you can shape it more and more as it gains maturity.......Or just put it out where it can grow without restraint...........Maryl

Hi- Probably not much response due to the holiday. Sorry, I don't have any real input. I might suggest that you try the Garden Web forum under landscape design, but you already did that! Houzz bought up a bunch of stuff, and the organization is not optimized well, probably due to history. Hope they do something to combine the forums, and also to make it so one can easily access and peruse the forums from a mobile device (it's like they are trying to hide the forums, in order to drive traffic directly to paid content and shopping). My only real help is anecdotal. There was a 12-volt lighting system in the 1969 home we bought in 2016. It was pretty old. We don't use part of it because it has failed. We hired a landscaper to transform other parts of the yard into a less water-dependent design. He looked at the old 12-V lighting system in those areas, and recommended that we just tear it out, as replacements aren't easily available, and an LED system would be much more efficient. Low voltage is still useful, but mother nature will always win in the end. Be aware of expenses to replace or repair older components, as at some point it may be more cost effective to put in a new system. i.e., many more of your components may fail in the near future due to seals, age, etc. Sorry, that's all I've got.

I made 4 pairs of drapes for the biggest windows in my house this summer. You just need to make sure you get enought panels (or curtain width) to fit that big of a space. From what I read, your sliding glass doors are 96" wide with an additional 40" of wall space that totals 136" wide. That is a huge area to cover with the proper size of drapes. You will need drapes that are at least close to 160" wide, depending on if they are pleated or have grommets, to hang properly in that space. I also suggest hanging the drapes high enough to not hit the floor but float at least an inch or two above the floor. You may have to buy several panels or have these drapes custom made.

Materials cost may be 5K, but labor should that much or more as well. Or you're dealing with incompetents. And you're not really making any significant visual changes from the dark counters and old look that you have already, with all the counter space in the WRONG spot. Then there is the matter of those old builder cabinets. If they aren't changing? Keep what you have. Change the drop in sink and faucet DIY, and call it good until you can address the very real functional issues. Create a kitchen that the materials are roughly the same quality level. Like it is now. You aren't making it better or adding value with your plans.