Is the "dining room" a formal space, or is a casual area off the kitchen? If it is the latter...you could change the door to a single glass and move it over to the left, closer to the corner. That would give you more wall space, but I wouldn't do it if removing the French doors makes your dining room look odd. I would say just move the fireplace to the patio...but we have a covered porch with one open side and a fireplace, and we just love having the fireplace there. Our space is a little bigger, but we are actually planning to put a built in grill/cooking area down on the patio and not have cooking on the covered porch at all. Granted, it is a few steps further from the house, but I would rather have the smoke further away. Plus...you are going to have a pool and all that...I think it would be great to have a grill out there for parties!

All I can sat TIna is that is a very cool front entrance you have ALREADY! I will be watching this thread with interest because I am working on redoing my folks house back entrance, which is very much like yours, except instead of the porch area where your chairs are, theirs is screened. And there are two steps down to the ground, which adds to the complexity of my situation. And I want to add a fountain just about where yours is! And redesign the walkway. I am still in the hemming and hawing stage.

Thank you for the feedback! We definitely have plans to make the trim around the windows thicker and painted white. We know shutters aren't technically correct because they would be too small and obviously not functional, but there is just so much beige vinyl we wanted find a way to cover up as much as possible!

GG, how are you going to adapt the stream portion abutting the property line to that configuration, without turning it into a planted garden? (Which would be OK as in your pictures, but that would grow it considerably wider, extending into the lawn portion of the yard.) Still, the stream has a perfected edge, whether a hard material, edged grass or artfully placed larger rocks, which I have no objections to, and probably a preference for, but don't want to take the time to draw those!