Dave, you did a good job to remove the weeds and planted a nice Abies concolor 'Wintergold' instead. I guess you've to prune it regulary because the 'Wintergold' will not stay small forever... Your Cedrus deodara 'Beacon Hill' is a real eye catcher, especialy it's double leaders will give it a very special look!

Thanks guys! wallycat...I do love the Dacor rangetop. The heat output is terrific - everything is very even. I like the way it looks (we didn't want something as industrial looking as the Wolf), I like the way the knobs light up blue when the burner is on (helps me & my kids remember to turn it off)...all positive. prairie-girls...the fabric is Waverly. I know it is discontinued, because when we needed to make the valences for these curtains (the rest of the kitchen had them already from several years back), my curtain place couldn't get the fabric. However...my husband let his fingers do the walking around the internet and found the fabric easily. And it was cheap. I want to say Ebay, but it might have just been a fabric sight. Do a google image search for Waverly yellow and blue fabric and you'll probably find it pretty easily.

You are right to worry about the garage door looking like a converted garage door. It will, and the reason is the placement of the framing. The header is considerably lower than the upper edges of the other openings in the facade, and there is nothing below the bottom edge of the door. The architecturally consistent thing to do (and it's not the cheapest way by a long shot) is to resize the opening to match the double windows to the left of the front doors, and installing a matching pair in the rebuilt wall. That means tearing out several courses of brick and replacing the structural elements inside the wall to support the narrower opening, adding the lower section of wall, reframing for the window, and filling in the brickwork. It's not easy to do, particularly when you will need to match the brick, but if you do it at the same time you build your addition, you'll have the trades already there to accomplish it. You already have a section of siding on the front of your house, and you could conceivably use the same siding to create the new window wall, but unless you are considering painting the house to make the old and new materials the same color (and that's a reasonable option), I think you will disrupt the balance of your front facade.

If they are truly Iron they should be able to be cut off, the door surface touched up and the doors refinished. Of course this may approach the cost of new doors but without more info it is almost impossible to be sure..