You could use some help from the LD forum on this landscaping. Since you didn't pick the hollies and aren't attached to them, I'll be blunt: for my eye there's not much you can do with paint colours or house details to distract from the very unfortunate placement of those bushes. I'm not saying they couldn't be useful if you combined them with some other landscaping (the other forum people tend to be better at foundation planting issues than I am), but on their own at that height they... are unnecessary, to put it mildly. The house has a very nice foundation, nothing to hide. Do any similar houses in your area have no foundation planting with more greenery further out in the yard instead? I might be inclined to put such a hedge perpendicular to the house if anywhere in that yard, perhaps along the side property line. Cutting them and fleshing out the beds further into the yard with more plantings in front of them might help. I think they will sprout from below if cut back, but check that on the shrubs forum perhaps, or someone on LD might know. KarinL

If you’d like a seating area: I would dig up all grass and put down some sort of inexpensive material ... look around on buy/sell/trade sites in your area. I find free stones/pavers/etc in my area often. Paint your other chair and small table red, like the Adirondack chair (or paint them all three in a different color). Set them up, put a potted flowering plant on the table. You could plant a few things in the front part, as some of these show — If you don’t want a seating area, I’d dig up the grass and plant some things. For instance — small shrubs in front of the windows, perennials in front of those, or succulents or tropicals. Whatever does well in your area. You could add a bird bath or something else decorative in it among the plants. I’d want low-growing, very natural looking, nothing uniform. This is not meant to show any specific plant selection, but just a visual of having it fully planted — . ETA: Sorry, just noticed something in the middle there, is it an asphalt strip? Can it be removed? If not, won’t be hard to work around.

Instead of drawing out a plan spend your time refining your requirements. How many bedrooms, bathrooms, other rooms is just the start. How large do you need your bedroom to be? Do you want a tub and a shower or shower only in the master. How much counterspace and storage space do you need in the master bath? How many linear feet of hanging storage in the master closet? How many drawers needed in the master closet? Do you need a tv in the master or prefer one without? How do you like your bed positioned? Do you need a walk out to the private beach from the master. Go through every square inch of your current home and define what works and what doesn't work. Go look at homes for sale (new builds and resales). Take a measuring tape along. Compare what you have to what the rooms in the homes you visit have. Go to all of your friends and family members who have homes and talk to them. What do they love and what do they not love about their home? What would they change and why? When going through your plans be realistic with what you really need and how you really live. Read the new construction threads on Houzz. Look at new builds that are in your area, talk to the owners. Who designed and who built their home, Did they have issues, would they recommend the architect they used, the builder they used, the interior designer they used?

Can you post pics too? I lived in a 170 year old house and took pains to keep historic features during our kitchen renovation. But partway through, I realized that many of the features were in fact ad ons and could be somewhat toyed with in tiny ways. It might help us to visualize the possibilities if we could see your space more clearly too. Brainstorming here to see if there is a way to get more storage and counterspace without closing the angle wall as I think it really cuts off the kitchen from other access points. The wall of windows - are they original to 1906? How far off the floor do they start? What finishes are you using in this space? Would you consider adding a moveable slender island in front of the windows to get more storage and countertop space? What kind of storage exists in the pantry and can you trick out that wall well to get lots more storage there? Of the two side by side dining room doors, could you close off the right one so that you can add a second wall of storage in the pantry? You still have good access to the backyard from the dining room, you just have a slight jog into the kitchen and out the back door. Are other homes on your street in or in your neighborhood similarly designed, and if so, have you zillowed around to see what they have done to their kitchens? Is the bathroom a full bath and do you need it to be? Could you make the bathroom smaller, remove the stairs and have a much larger more open kitchen? (I was sad yet somewhat secretly glad that the former owners of our house had closed of the backstairs to make a closet at the top of the stairs on the second floor so when we removed the lower half of then, I almost felt like it wasn't my fault!0 .