Replacing the tree in the front yard is on the next-year list. Your guess of Sorbus acucuparia was spot on; that's what this one is. It began as a multistem tree and is losing one trunk per year. I think voles may be eating the bark just below the soil surface. Now it has only one trunk that is leaning at an odd angle. So that will be replaced for certain, and perhaps the bed that contains it will be moved or reconsidered. No other trees are on the table for now. We have glorious mountain views and we have been very careful to frame them deliberately. In this case I'm much more concerned with the view from the house than the view of the house. The tree on the right in Yardvaark's photo would block a spectacular view. Of course, you had no way of knowing that. :) But rest assured, the front yard has generous clumps of aspen trees that do soften the overall look of the front yard. Also Yardvaark, it's pretty easy to reconcile liking the idea of a tree yet not actually wanting one. In the abstract, small trees look nice anchoring house corners. Yet in specific, in this particular case with the long and lean layout of the front porch, I prefer that to be left open. Make sense? That said, if I could find the perfect, small, well-behaved, interesting tree to put in the left corner of the foundation, I would consider it. I've always wondered about Hawthorne trees because they stay narrow. Deviant, I just love the look of that entryway patio and porch. That creates a very welcoming face on the house and is probably a lovely place to linger and socialize with the UPS guy. Thanks for sharing the photo. Thanks for the ideas and input, I am benefiting from the collective wisdom here. I am home from my trip now and will have a look at my space with fresh eyes.

Thank you! We are looking more towards a double door- we DO have to get this done soon as we put in for a grant up here for people to get their homes rated higher- ours was only a 2+ rating & the state will pay a certain % back if we upgrade AND get it up at least one star rating. My hubby has been a stink at putting things off- we already paid $350 for the rating inspection & at that time we had 18 mos to get it completed & get refunded UP to 10k (depending on what we can upgrade to raise the rating- nothing higher than we have paid of course) Well NOW, it's been about 13 mos.. & he has now left it up to ME to figure out WHAT to do :( I'm SO flustered by it (& him LOL) but I know we'll never get the chance to get in on this again... the whole entry is terrible *cold* and drafty. We think by replacing that (those big huge windows by the door mostly!) and adding more insulation UNDER the house- this should up the rating quite a bit. They were definitely on the inspection list. Because we are so low on lighting up here- we'd really like some sort of window above as that actually helps light the upper level as well. We are able to order just about anything we find on the net because we have it shipped to a shipping barge in Seattle and they bring it right to us :) I don't want anything fancy & that seems to be a lot of my problem as most of what I see ARE real fancy or solid wood etc. Thank you so much for your thoughts on this!!! ANY help/suggestions are MUCH appreciated :)

ondanonima, damiarain and rebunky, WOW! I am so glad I submitted this to Houzz - I am totally impressed with your ideas. Thank you so much! ondanonima, we are still in the design phase so we can still choose most of the window/glass locations. We want that east wall to be mostly glass. We will probably have one or two French sliding doors covering the entire space (kitchen – living room) with floor to ceiling glass as an option. There's even an option to install a corner window in the NE corner and have the sink as close to that corner as possible. There's not much to look at out a window toward the west end of the north side wall - just the least attractive side of the neighbor's house. I never would have thought of leaving the west wall completely blank. I have to mull this over for a while. We like the idea of lots of floor to ceiling glass on the east wall and it might be hard to give that up. rebunky's idea is appealing in that it frees up the east wall for floor-ceiling glass but I'd need to have the sink more toward the east end of that wall which spoils the pantry in the NE corner! Also I don't know if we'd ever want to sit with our backs to the view :( Your ideas have made me excited that there can be a really good arrangement for this space!

That’s a good idea about wires but if moved opposite the long wall, the sectional will be too short and the corner would end up in the middle of the space. The speakers would also look odd in the hallway. I also don’t like to block the entrances to the living room. I think we may have to live with the current set up, add a seat along the long wall or remove the corner.