Hi I'm new here and love the banter, it's a little scary as well. As to the 'cliche; Good functional use of a property is never 'cliche. It only becomes this way if you do what everyone else does. You could slap any shed on a property and it will hold all your tools. A shed that is built to complement the home is appealing could be used as a potting area, out door office, or all of these things. A patio can be used for placing lawn chairs or it can be elaborated on with things like water features outdoor furniture with lighting such as found in the home. To keep it interesting a wine cooler can be made handy with cabinets for storage. Seating with overstuffed cusions. Pergolas with overhead lighting and the use of dimmer switches. A bat house on the property will keep the mosquitos at bay for many blocks. (hope the neighbors don't mind.) A kids area does not nessesarly mean a swing set it could be a water slide. By the way I don't have kids but was one once. For me the bottom line is how do you want to use your space and how much of your personaliy do you want to project into this space? How much money and time do you plan on putting into the area? Are you planning on staying there until you die or go to a nursing home? Are you planning on getting a good resale? The kids aren't going to be there forever so the area can always be transformed into something else, maybe a small golfing green for putting practice. Decide how best the area should be used with future plans in place. Your needs change as your life does. Know where and how to place the hardscapes the first one is already there. Be smart where the trees are planted and what thier purpose is. Move on accordingly the rest will fall into place, and it won't be 'cleche because it is yours. By the way loved the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Thanks for letting me add my input. Now don't hurt me!

@greenfish1234 Thank you again for your input. I'm attaching a better picture of the back door area. Our door is currently a slider door - not sure if that will be switched in the future to a french door. How far past the door should the steps/landing go? The further we go, the further we cut into that dead space next to our family room wall (to the right of the door). Also, the deeper the total of depth of the steps/landing combined, the deeper the bed gets to the left of the steps/landing, unless we don't make that bed as deep as the steps/landing, but not sure if that will look right. I'm also attaching a pic of landing/steps I found on line. Not that I want curved steps or that material, but was wondering if I could turn that dead space into a raised planter on the landing. That way I can soften that area. If I did this though, not sure how far to bring out the planter - just to the last step, or to the edge of the back of the family room wall. In this pic, their dead space is probably 1/2 that of mine.

Raymond, a regular Houzz contributor, Benjamin Vogt is a landscape designer in Nebraska. He specializes in native gardens and is incredibly talented and knowledgeable. If you border a pretty natural area, he would be invaluable in helping maximize the lots potential. Seek out some of his articles if you have a chance. Good luck!

Whether the government will do anything about this and whether it is the government's responsibility is really dependent on a lot of factors and may take years to address (if they ever do). Usually noise is addressed in the environmental phase of a project, so it should have been addressed by the DOT if the highway was built after the development, or by the developer if the highway was already there when your home was built. There are criteria that need to be met to warrant a noise wall (they're expensive, so it rarely serves to put one in if they're not going to mitigate noise), and rarely are they built just because a resident wants one. That being said, you can build your own, but a lot of factors will come into play. Is the highway above or below you? If it's above, a wall will do nothing. If it's below, a wall may help. Look at your state DOT standard highway building plans if you can find them. Sound walls in CA are typically masonry. I agree that the solid wall will do better than anything with gaps. I haven't seen vinyl used by a DOT, but that doesn't mean it can't work.