It seems like you will need some on-site professional advice. I'm no where near that, so can just add some reactions. Your home appears large and a large financial investment, so you want to keep things appropriate for the setting and not tacked on here and there. The low level by the basement is not very easy to "connect" well with the high deck so as to have the 2 spaces function really well together. The other side yard that is a higher elevation seems the most natural area for spillover from a large gathering and I would be tempted to develop that space preferentially, even if it requires some privacy screening from the front view of the property. However, if the basement room--whatever you will be making that in to--is a key action zone that will be highly related to outdoor activities, then maybe you do want to develop that walkout area more. A hot tub under that deck doesn't seem very appealing. So, to come up with the best design, you may need to flesh out your activities and traffic flow a bit more to see what is most rational from that standpoint and then factor in the $$ cost of various solutions. Also prioritize--you are trying to do this--decide if pleasant seating out of the rain is most impt, or heating in cool but clear weather, or being in hot tub, etc. I'm not sure you can build a fireplace on the deck proper, if that's what you meant.

EEP! Screen the deck so critters (and kids) can't get under it. To the right you could build in some storage area with doors for toys and garden tools. Regardless of budget, lay out the WHOLE PLAN right now. Check out the sprinkler system and see where each zone waters, and mark it on your plan. You can easily change an entire zone to be a drip system for veggie gardens or landscape borders. You can't have a single zone for lawn sprinklers and drip system ... neither will work correctly. Identify all those plants along the fence - most of them are probably poor choices and can be removed now, but you may have some things worth saving. You also may have some vines that will destroy the fence if they don't get a proper trellis (I think I see grapes). 1 - Minimize the lawn area. One big enough for a soft play area for toddlers is no larger than 20x20. To have a good play area for older kids, send them to the park - they need huge areas. 2 - Set up your activity zones ... landscape planning is just like furniture and house planning. Where does it make sense to do what? 3 - Decide on the future plants, generically speaking, and have a list of species and varieties and a spot on the plan for them. Native and whatever non-native can do well with minimal watering will also For inexpensive to free landscape stuff, keep checking Craigslist and freecycle for free plants. Whenever I divide perennials or remove them, I usually advertise them. If you have a plan, you will know whether the freebies are going to work or not, and save a lot of time. Xeriscaping Tips: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/45812/tips_on_xeriscaping_its_not_zeroscaping.html I like the deck - re-staining it and fixing any loose boards is all I would do. Here is a link that might be useful: landscape design for novices

"Problem is finding a good paver "setter" who has a bit of creativity & vision." It's a mistake to think that paver installers are the ones that should be responsible for designing the project. Installers are primarily interested in installing the maximum square footage of patio that you will buy, and could probably care less about the layout, other than that they would prefer you provide a good one so they can walk away with pride and end up with a decent project for their portfolio. While they will design it by default, if you don't provide a design, the quality of their ideas will be on on you. If you don't have the design skills (alone or in conjunction with this forum) to design the patio, then you should be consulting with a LANDSCAPE DESIGNER, not a paver installer. Get the design done first, and then find an installer to place it. If you don't have a design (on paper) then you have nothing to bid on. In that case, every contractor you talk to will recommend different things and the pricing will be all over map. You'll have bids you can't compare with other bids because they'll all be for different things. As far as 12' vs. 14' depth, I would consider 12' the absolute minimum usable dimension. A designer would want to know the exact furniture that you're placing on the patio, and the contingencies for when you want to set up for the occasional larger group for special occasions, if that ever happens. Even if it never happens for you, it would be typical of most households. If resale (ever) is a concern, I wouldn't make the patio the absolute smallest a person can "get by" with. One that is of a size usable for a typical "family" with your size house in your type of neighborhood, would be a better choice. Rarely does anyone make a patio that they think is too large. Usually, they're wishing they had a little more space. I suggest figuring out your furniture and all uses and make the patio comfortably large enough to accommodate everything with a little extra room added. There's little point to building something new that you regret soon after you start using it. The difference in cost between barely-big-enough and comfortable is not that great. Buried utilities rarely limit a patio's placement. Water, sewer, gas, electricity are (should be) deep enough to be well below a patio. They might warrant some caution in excavation, but this is nothing to be fretting over. Irrigation lines might be shallow, but still probably won't be a problem. In the worst case scenario, if they are very shallow, they can easily be rerouted. (Some reconfiguration is likely anyway, since you don't want to be watering your patio.) Cable and telephone (if anyone has that any more) tends to the shallowest. These can both be rerouted to a lower placement or different route. Whether you abut or space it away from the structure, in order to make room for foundation beds, make the patio length (its longest dimension) be parallel to the home, not perpendicular to it. (Something said earlier made me think this was possibly going wrong.)

If the limelights can grow to their full potential, they should exceed the fence height by a couple of feet. You don't indicate how high the screening needs to be.