Personally, I have tried space bags twice, and the contents have not stayed compressed. I now use ziplock big bags, they don't compress, but they're cheaper. For my patio chair cushions, I bought a large garbage can on wheels. It shuts tight and keeps out the moisture and bugs, plus it fits (on it's side) under my deck. HTH

I keep plastic bags tucked into empty paper tissue boxes. I find the "boutique" size is the easiest to store. Then I scatter them around the house in bathrooms, closets,etc and in the car. A surprising number of plastic grocery bags can be stuffed into one empty tissue bag. Years ago I bought a bunch of little plastic trash cans that are made to reuse plastic grocery bags. A link for something like them is below. I'll be the first to admit, they are not "decorative" but by now, everyone "gets" the point. I can loop 4 or five bags in each can, one inside the other. It makes it so easy to collect the trash from bedrooms, bathrooms, the office and laundry room. Here is a link that might be useful: Trash can for reusing plastic grocery bags

We finally decided on white pea gravel, and while it took quite a while to find a supplier (all garden stores nearby were sold out), we're delighted with how it turned out. When weeds pop through we can dig them out (decided on no landscaping fabric), and the kids have decided that gravel is almost as much fun as sand to play with (not to mention it doesn't get tracked in the house as easily.) On dark or rainy days - quite common here - the white reflects some light into the house, unlike the old bricks which just got darker and felt gloomy. We left the brick pathway to the door for now, as well as enough to be a border and hold the gravel in place, so we still have solid walkways and aren't worried the gravel will wash away. The curve of the brick path and the uneven border of old bricks means the patio is an odd shape, which I'm not sure about but my husband likes. The gravel is not as soft as grass, but isn't too painful for walking across barefoot to the table and chairs. I had planned to just do the main patio, and see about the rest of the space later, but we ordered so much my husband got inspired and cleared out the mud and brick pit near the door. That's now a play place for the kids; they love having their own little space and we love that they're happy and that the toys don't get scattered everywhere! For anyone who's interested, we ordered 8-16mm size gravel, at a weight of 600kg (more than 1200lbs), and it cost under 140 euros, including delivery. For convenience we had it delivered in a pallet of 20kg bags instead of the cheaper bulk bags since our back yard is hard to access. That amount covered the lower part of our garden nicely with plenty left over, so I may use that in the the back muddy area, which is currently just hosting ivy and old kids' toys. We layered the gravel at about 1-2 inches deep, but if that's not enough (or if it shifts too much) we may add more or try using the honeycomb-shaped gravel stabilizer grids. So far the amount seems fine for light traffic and playing, and hasn't been too wobbly for our patio furniture. It took months to figure out what we wanted and where to buy it, but in the end it ticked all the boxes: low maintenance, child friendly, not exorbitant, practical for walking on. And as as bonus, every time I look outside it reminds me of an Italian or French garden, which makes me want to brew a cappuccino and go enjoy some sunshine. Thank you to everyone for the input and ideas; may all your design dilemmas have happy endings.

I think you've gotten most of the best suggestions. Ideally, you find a color that minimizes the door and then put something decorative (a tall plant? lamp?) in front of it. If you have wind, then you'll need to secure whatever it is, or I guess you could hang a picture with command strips. Here are some renderings that are loosely analogous to window color, brick color, and floor color, just to help you visualize. And here's a fake plant in front of the brick-colored door, just for yuks.