I wouldn't use yews there for a couple of reasons. If you have any deer, there will be bare sticks all year since yews are their favorite plant IME, the only plant I have had regular problems with as far as deer. Also, even dwarf yews will be larger than optimal for that area unless you want to,fill the front bed with them. Even the smallest yews I am familiar with are 3.5' or 4' tall x 5' wide, somewhat large for that spot. Adding a combination of an evergreen groundcover (Iberia or Veronica Georgia Blue would work in my area) and a single smaller evergreen conifer near the far corner such as one of the slower growing Chamaecyparis AKA false cypress might work better. I can't tell from your photo, but if those are rocks, you want either larger rocks or to get rid of them entirely.

I would not build something to outline the patio. You have a garden to do that. Most gardens don't look at their best in early spring, when plants haven't leafed out yet. You could put something like artemesia to edge your planting beds. That would be an outline. I'm not sure the yellow really goes. I'd be inclined to paint the bench and the table on the porch a blue that goes with your shutters and punch up some color with a pink that matches the tulips (or whatever color your roses? are they roses? will be). Like with pillows on the bench. You have a lot of items in your entryway. My observation is that elegant entries have a few bold, coordinated items. You have 4 stools/tables, 2 of them with empty urns on them. The table is above the window sill. It looks random, not designed. The urns go well will your house color, the yellow table doesn't. It's hard to judge what you should keep, because maybe you use that table often. And, of course, a lot of the great pics you see on Houzz are staged and professionally photographed. It you removed the yellow table and whatever table is in the corner by the door, bought big bouquets of flowers in colors that go with the house (a lot of tulip pink, a dab of blue) for the urns and placed them carefully, got the bow on your wreath to match, and took a pic from the right angle on a sunny day, you'd have a pretty impressive picture.

Remove the light pole, and the door lantern. Replace it with another one like the garage lanterns. The door lantern should be 1/3 of the door's height, so you see why I'm suggesting that. Hang it high and remove the wreath. Maybe your house numbers should go where the wreath is. Move that pot of flowers over to that area beneath the wreath for some color. It will be a pain, but you should dig out the rock mulch and extend your porch into that area, replacing the rocks with cypress mulch which ages nicely and repels insects. Since grass won't grow at the tree, lay a small paver patio there and get a nice glider to sit in.

I'm sorry but a 22" width is not sufficient room to grow much of anything other than annuals or some smaller perennials. About the only evergreen shrub it could accommodate is dwarf English boxwood and even that would need to be routinely sheared to keep it in bounds. Spreading yews could work as well but they would also need routine shearing - they grow faster and larger than the box. From a design and aesthetic viewpoint, your charming home (and it is indeed very charming) is being unpleasantly upstaged by the massive expanse of gravel. Unless this is a B&B or you have a fleet of cars you need permanent parking for, pull it back and allow at least some semblance of a front garden. Get rid of the brick borders and pull those beds out even with the stone landing at the very least. Personally, I'd likley get rid of 75% or more of the gravel. Other than convenience, it is adding nothing to the curb appeal. The choice is a parking lot or a garden.