Thanks guys. And the little guy was just hanging on the bricks on my front patio. I thought it was a twig at first. From "above" or straight on that is what he looks like. Somewhere I think I saw someone else's pic and maybe those are called woodchip? butterflies? It really does look like wood. The image I have on the computer that hasn't been cut down for the internet shows his eyes and antenna a little better, but, I thought it was an interesting pic.

We are in Western New York state, Buffalo/Niagara Falls area. To answer the others questions: It is 40 inches from ground to the floor of the porch. I'll be painting the base of the porch a sparkling white. I'm going to guess that there is about 8 to 10 feet from the edge of the wide front stairway, which is on the left side of the porch, to the far right corner of the porch, (sorry, I haven't measured it yet). The front wall of the house, downstairs, is white and the floor is new Timber Tech in light gray. There's a white bead board ceiling. We have a large metal glider with two metal chairs which I am considering painting a butter yellow which would work with the yellow day lilies. I would love to come up with plantings in front of the porch that would just take your breath away. Hopefully plants that would flower all summer. I've even thought of bringing in more top soil to bank that area in front of the porch base. There is a beautiful Clemantis climbing at the far right end of the porch. We're going to put in new posts and railings on both the first floor porch and the second floor porch. I'll be putting flower boxes on those railings. A major reason for going with the yellow is because the front wall of the second floor was painted a medium green that is almost a gold. Getting into painting the entire house this summer is not on our to do list so I have to work with what is there. I hope this is not too much information, but I thought the full picture would help to to find the right answer as to what to plant in front of the porch. Please ask any questions you need to! Thank you sooo much for any direction you can give me. Christine

Use one surface color/material for all the countertops since you have different colored cabinets. Why are you raising the seating area? I would extend the top at the same level as the island so you can use regular chairs or stools rather than bar height. It will open up the look of the kitchen. I would use the same countertop surface on that as well. Also, do not use the 4" backsplash. Tile the walls from countertop to the bottom of the top cabinets, and the whole area above the stove. It will look much less choppy, and is not a big expense. Or go lower at table height.

Thanks for additional photos. The room has three purposes at the moment: storage for water bottles and other bulky things (sleeping bag, vacuum, paper towels, etc.), clothes storage (on clothes rod) and laundry. Here are some comments: 1- I agree that adding the water bottle racks would be the first priority. They can go conveniently to the right of the entrance where the hanging clothes racks are. 2- Remove the 70% of clothes that you say you can get rid of. Can the remainder go in regular closets elsewhere? 3- Take everything else out to declutter unused things. Many of us have a stash of "dog towels" that we use frequently for cleanup, but sometimes this stash needs weeding out with extras donated to the local veterinarian or animal shelter. 4- Try using a towel bar to hang things that need extra attention before washing that you are not quite ready to tackle. It gets those things off the floor, out of the baskets, and off the tops of the washer and dryer. 5- An alternative laundry method that keeps the area clear of "pending" laundry is to bring only one load of laundry to the laundry area at one time. For example, one load of sheets, not all the sheets in the house, is brought in and started in the washer. When you move that load to the dryer, bring in the next load for the washer. For clothes, this method means using good size laundry hampers or existing laundry baskets in each bedroom. Sort the darks and lights before you bring one or the other to the laundry room. 6- Removable wallpaper or large colorful artwork can cheer up a room. Here are some good examples: https://www.houzz.com/magazine/bold-wallpaper-brings-color-and-fun-to-the-laundry-room-stsetivw-vs~80779095