Frankie, that is exactly what I was rying to say, although it was disjointed and strung out through the thread (pun?). "I think it might be nice to have something that makes you look into it instead of at it or around it. A small patio puts the mass in the middle and give your plants something to belong to. It is one way, but not the only way or necessarily the right way for you." .... "You don't have to have a patio to do it." The same thing applies to breaking the fence. There are other plants or objects that can do it, but breaking it has a real affect. I used the term "framing" earlier, too. I don't think it is the right term. I may be better to call it "bumping". If you are trying to put gravity into an area, it re-inforces it when you put things in the composition that "bump" you back in to that space rather than creating a barrier that has a front side and a back side. A solid row or hedge tends to make your subconscience interested in what's on the other side much like a fence does. It is more subtle than fence, but does not stop the tendency. The "bump" is something we experience in both planned and unplanned situations, but is so subtle that we don't notice it. If you look around comfortable places that you frequent, you might be surprised how much unsightly stuff there actually is in open view, but somehow you never really noticed it. Look for the little not so noticable things that are keeping you from paying attention to that stuff. Something is telling your brain that the background starts before that "stuff". What makes a hedge or fence act as a background instead of a middleground when in both cases you can see objects past it? This goes on around all of us every day. When we try too hard, we often miss the simple. Here is a very simple example of "bumping". Now that this is not a hotly over-analyzed landscape, glance at the image. Where did you land? Where didn't you go?

Thank you everyone! I'm in Sonoma County, in the North Bay Area, Sunset zone 14. Are you sure 15'-20' would be enough? I was thinking more along the lines of 30-40', but I'm really bad at estimating how large things are/need to be. My Mother's top choice would be a Mimosa tree because we see them around town doing so well and they are beautiful. I've heard that mimosas tend to create lots of seedlings, but our neighbor has a mimosa tree and we haven't noticed any seedlings on our property in the 5 years we've been living here. We have a fig tree already, it's actually further up the field and from the right angle it does exactly what I want the new tree to do. I could plant a different fruit tree there, but I was under the impression it would need a larger tree than I had planned on putting in my orchard. Although nut trees tend to grow pretty large, maybe a walnut would be good? I'll have to check my Sunset book again, I looked under 'Plants for growing under oaks' and they only listed shrubs, perennials, etc. Further study told me I should absolutely not plant a Bay Laurel tree, but other than that I'm still pretty clueless. I will return to my Sunset guide, and maybe stop by the 'tree farm' that is close to my house. They have a vested interest in selling me something but are very knowledgeable about growing trees in this area, so it should be helpful. Thanks again, I will return with a list of potential trees I'm thinking of ; )

Every square foot taken to gardening! A backyard worthy of a climb to the roof for pictures ... Congratulations, Greg, on the new phone/camera and your home environment. I hope we will be treated to lots of pictures. Steve

If you do two stories (walk out basement plus main floor) and have master bedroom up and other two bedrooms down, I would think you would want two bathrooms (or at least two WCs). People sleeping downstairs who wake in the middle of the night needing to use the toilet should not have to climb a set of stairs to get to one. If you want the master upstairs, consider putting the laundry room down next to a downstairs WC and cluster both directly beneath the upstairs bath and WC. That will allow you to cluster the plumbing which helps keep costs down. With a second WC and the cost of building stairs, it might or might not be more economical to build two stories than to spread the whole house out on a single floor. But, given your sloping property and your desire to maximize views, I'd go with two stories anyway. Having a second WC or even a second full bath won't cost THAT much more if you can cluster the plumbing. As for critiques of your latest posted plan. I would agree with previous comments that your living room/dining room area won't work very well. With three bedrooms, one assumes that at least occasionally you will have 3 to 6 people staying at the house. The living room would not be at all comfortable for that many people. Plus, do you expect to watch TV, or converse in the living room. No place for a TV and no room to create a conversation area where people sit so that they can look at one another. As designed, you don't really have a LIVING ROOM. You have a dining room with a sofa off to one side. The trip from the master bedroom to the WC requires you to walk thru your closet (wardrobe), out into the dining area, and then turn back down a hallway. Not a trip I would want to navigate during the middle of the night...especially since I have to admit that I often leave my shoes scattered about in my closet and I'd be tripping over them in the dark. Maybe you're a neat-nick and ALWAYS put shoes away exactly where they belong. But, do you really want the only path to your master bedroom to be thru your closet??? Also, you show no closets except the Master bedroom closet and a very small broom closet. Most of us have tons more stuff that needs to be stored away than will possibly fit into those two small closets. Eg, X-mas decorations, extra blankets, towels, and pillows, off-season clothing, the big bag of dogfood, the vacuum cleaner, the ironing board, board games, umbrellas, recycling bins, etc. With no garage, any of that stuff that you own is going to have to be stored somewhere inside your house. The biggest complaint I hear about new homes when people move in is that they don't have enough storage space...and that is often from folks who have a two or three car garage!. And, the space you have allotted a staircase isn't nearly long enough. Even in Australia, I suspect there are building codes that restrict just how steep a staircase can be. Here in the U.S, for a house with eight foot (2.44 m) ceilings and 1 ft thick joists between floors, you would need a staircase run about 13 ft long (3.96 m). Anything less will result in a staircase that is too steep to meet code. Plus, even if you're not restricted by a building code, if you make the staircase steeper than about 40 degrees, it is VERY uncomfortable to use and pretty dangerous. Definitely NOT something you want to deal with in the middle of the night when trying to get the the WC! Suggest you look up the building codes in your jurisdiction and find out exactly what the staircase requirements are. Then you can do a bit of trigonometry to figure out how much linear space you need to devote to your staircase...assuming it is a straight line staircase. (BTW, please don't think that if you design a bent staircase - a U or an L or some other shape) that you can squeeze it into less space. Every bend makes the staircase take up even more room. You need to understand staircase requirements before you begin trying to design two stories and then block out the necessary staircase space first on both floors. Trying to design any two story space without knowing up front how much space must be dedicated to the staircase is an exercise in frustration.