I'm using your plan view drawing to make some suggestion. I don't there is as much space in the back yard as it shows so I'm reducing it some. For starters, it looks to me like you are making the patio too small to be genuinely useful. By the time you place a table and chairs, a grill, spillover seating and what not, it would be extremely crowded. Consider expanding it to what average users might desire, even if you don't think you need that much space. I've never heard anyone complain about having too much space on the patio, but plenty complaining of too little. Some small (15' height) trees surrounding the back yard would help give a sense of privacy without becoming overwhelming. To my thinking, multi-trunk trees would be better than single trunks ... more substance, more screening and more options of what could be used. At the front yard, a small multi-trunk tree between you and neighbor's would help your house from theirs and help screen the view between the houses. A medium flowering tree could give the house a sense of being somewhat sheltered, protected and give the street some personality. Like others, I agree that not having shrubs between drive and walk is better. Low (less than 12") groundcover would work better. Carrying it around the sloped portion of the yard and L. side of house would lessen maintenance and give a fuller look. Some seasonal color near the steps would be a cheerful greeting when entering the house.

Lots of natural stone can have green flecks or striations (sp?). You're right about not needing a sideboard or cabinet in that area. I was confused by your post. I wouldn't match the furnishings, they should complement one another but not all one matching set. I like the wood table. Looks a bit like weathered barn board colour. Is there enough space for something that big? They style and colour will look good with the beadboard on the walls. Instead of getting a matching sofa / loveseat combo, you may one to do a sofa and some chairs. It's hard to tell from the pictures but it would look like it would be a tight fit with both. Also putting chairs instead of loveseat gives you the option to do some coloured or patterned chairs. I love the idea of yellow, but I am biased. I love fall colours and tend to gravitate towards them. Yellows, reds, greens would all look great with rustic furniture. Definitely nothing frilly on those windows. I'm sure someone could help you out with styling them, I've never had tall windows like that so not sure where you'd put them when you have windows over the fireplace. Perhaps just shades with simple sheer drapes that run on the bottom windows only. Sheers can be coloured if you like, don't have to be white. Or you could just leave them completely bare. Trim is very easy to paint. Tape off where you don't want paint going and prime it and paint it. You may need two coats of primer. They also make a plastic product that you place on the floor when painting. It slips under the baseboard and you move it along as you paint so paint doesn't get on your floor. I've used it in the past and it worked well. So since you own some artwork already that's actually a great jumping off point for you. What I would do is figure out where you want the art and then use the colours from those peices as your accent colour or finding a complementary wall colour. Grab a bunch of paint samples that you think you'd like and compare them next to the art.

Welcome to Kitchens. I drew a peninsula with a clean-up zone, and made the island a prep zone, with a second prep zone between the clean-up sink and range.I'd suggest a small trash pull-out under the prep sink. There are windows on each side of the range. The pantry beside the fridge has shallow shelves for canned goods built on the front of the bump-out, with a tall cabinet with ROTS, and sheet pan storage above. You could keep small appliances on the lower roll-out. I don't like corner pantries as a rule, but this one is where it can do no harm ;). I'd suggest replacing the French doors with a slider, opening left-to-right, to channel traffic behind the island, or moving the doors up beside the pantry. Instead of a more expensive MW drawer, a counter MW could go in the space above the bump-out, with upper cabinets above. That would also leave space for a CT coffee maker. Without the peninsula, you could have an island with seating on two sides, but you would have fewer cabinets and less storage space: If you are using a standard depth fridge, you can pull the cabinets out to the same depth as the fridge box in the above plan, to provide more counter space. In that case, you could have the shallow store for cans I drew in front of the bump-out in the first plan. If you are a fan of banquette seating, you could have built-in benches in the corner, with a mobile cart to add extra prep space and help channel traffic away from the work aisle. benches can double as storage space: Another option, using the extra 3.5': New to Kitchens? Read me first.

A few questions. Do you actually think you will have time to sit by yourself? Will your SO be joining you? Will you just be sitting and reading or will you be doing puzzles and perhaps be on your laptop or computer? What time of day will you use it? If you are using this room for simply reading on your laptop or computer and or a book I think you just need to think of comfortable chairs and storage for your books. Low glassed cabinets with art above them always look very nice. Two comfortable deep chairs with a table between them and good lighting for reading are the route I would go if this is the reading room. I'd add other chairs in corners or in a circle for guests. But again my main focus would be to be very comfortable and have nice things to look at in that room. As parent of two now grown children I didn't sit around very much until they were perhaps mid teens. And that didn't last very long.:-). I had time in little bits to relax for the most part. I beaded necklaces to relax which was not conducive to a main floor room. All this is said to get you to think more clearly about how you will use this room and how to make it valuable for you. Good luck I'm sure it will look lovely once you're finished.