We recently found Euonymus "Manhattan" that are 4 ft wide by 5 feet high, planted on a trellis. They grow to 8 x 8. We got eight to cover our ugly "good neighbor" back and side fences. I thought of these when I saw them as a good solution instead of box or hollies as they would take a long time to get full and lush. Now that they are in place along the fence line, they look really good. They are not very deep, like other hedge plants would be. For goodness sake don't plant juniper for a hedge, too many houses have that here, and everybody that has it when they got their houses ends up hating it and ripping it out! What about a hedge of thornless or nearly thornless roses?? R. Banksaie normalis, banksaie banksaie or banksaie lutea are great for this and they will cover 20-30 feet in only a few short years. To see some pics of our recent landscaping projects and our Roses we grow, ck out my Picture Trail: careytearose Here is a link that might be useful: look at Landscaping Projects, Favourite ROSES We Grow albums

there is a new dwarf lorapetalum "Bill Wallace" (that would be nice in front of some of those Indian Hawthornes. Or the "Purple Haze" Lorapetalum is supposed to be 4' x 5' so you could do those under the window.

I can understand your discomfort with the too-open kitchen but I think you may be panicking and thinking you need to do too much. I note that your kitchen has a one-story ceiling while the dining area and living area have taller ceilings. I would simply cut off the countertop that faces toward the living area and extend the pony wall beneath it upward to the ceiling. You would no longer need the decorative post. I would NOT try to extend that wall beyond the point where the dining room's 2 story ceiling starts because, if you do, you'll have to try and make the ceilings look right. Instead, I would just have the remaining countertop curved off and brought in to meet the newly raised-up wall. (Not sure I'm explaining this well so I'll attach a sketch. BTW, I see a couple of wall lights and a door (closet?) on the wall beside your entry that don't show up on your plan so I've added those.) I do like your idea of making opening into the kitchen that is beside the staircase into an arched doorway. And I know this will sound weird since you're trying to close up the kitchen some... but I would put a small arched opening (pass-thru) into the middle of newly raised up wall. A small pass-thru opening would allow a person working at the prep sink to see the front door. But a person entering the front door would NOT really be able to see into the kitchen thru the arched pass thru. All the countertops would still be hidden. They would just get a view of the window that is over the kitchen sink. Also, two arches complement each other and look planned while a single arched opening may just look like it was an after-thought. I would then strategically place a tall green plant near the bottom of the stairs so it partially obscures the straight-on view into the kitchen from the front door and gives visitor's eyes a stopping point. Maybe a ficus or dracena or philodendron. It'll be a rather low light location tho so you might want to invest in a very good artificial plant rather than trying to keep a real plant alive. I do think that these relatively simple changes would get rid of the overly "exposed" feeling you have now and would cost a WHOLE lot less than adding a bunch of walls and moving a fireplace, etc. Here's the sketch:

When I found you asking for ideas I had to call my friend from church, as she host some of the most fun tea parties in her home in the summer, this is what she e-mailed me back. She says she gets her ideas off of different forums she belongs to- Girlfriend Tea- What's a GIRLFRIEND tea? The invitation (sent on a beautiful stationery teacup) said, "Bring a best girlfriend." The proper morning tea started at 10:25 A.M. Wearing a pretty hat was optional, but not necessary (and about half of the ladies wore one). We started with orange-tangerine tea and scones (including lemon curd and clotted cream) on the back porch (I planned on having it in the back yard, but it rained too hard the night before!) Then we adjourned to the dining room where we had Orzo-Asparagus Salad, Ham salad on a thick slice of cucumber, Fruited chicken salad on a small piece of crescent roll, Cucumber fruit salad, a square of broccoli-cheese quiche and a bumblebee that was nestled beside a Brown-eyed Susan. The bumblebee was a mixture of graham cracker crumbs, dried milk, peanut butter and honey. I used a small tube of black icing to make the stripes and eyes. Slivered almonds made the wings. Dessert was a Strawberry-cheese pie in a graham cracker crust. And everything (except the scones) was made the day before. I introduced "my friends" and told how we met and became friends, and then each of them introduced their "friend" and explained how they became friends. We talked for hours. About such things as our favorite childhood toy, our first kiss(!), a memorable event that happened during our wedding, the way our mothers cleaned house -- way back then... We remembered songs we used to sing and sang several "rounds" of White Coral Bells and Make New Friends but Keep the Old. Oh, yes! On one particular tea, the electricity went off during the afternoon, but we lit a few oil lamps and kept on talking. It was a wonderful time -- one we'll cherish a long time, this is one of my favorite Teas to host. I will host this tea for my co-worker friends as well as my church friends and neighbor friends as well.