Thanks LoLauren & Maire -- you folks got me thinking. I am concerned with the look of the additional sashes with a 4-panel as I'm used to the sashes where they are now. Also, the opening I have now is suitable for furniture moving. MMMmm. See, now I have no screen at all -- so this door is always closed. I'm desperate for air flow as we have no central air. Maybe I'm overcompensating wanting such a large opening because I've had to live with this thing closed for a year. And, in the Winter -- I close these heavy weighted plastic-backed god-awful curtains to stop the draft. Alright -- its Saturday morning at 6am -- I'm taking the curtains down NOW and going to the Door Store as soon as they open. I'm 90% sure the 3-Panel will be purchased. Thanks for the appearance vote in that direction Maire! And, thanks for mentioning the fussing with the lock LoLauren -- while that wouldn't be a problem ... you got me thinking about having two screens closing in the middle ... and I have two dogs ... two screens for them to ruin versus one. :)

So, the breezeway originally was the entire depth of the house, but the back end is now laundry/enclosed area? I think screening the front would be nice, especially if you have a nice view out front. We had a breezeway and they made the front part a bedroom and the back a mudroom/passage to the kitchen. They kept the windows and door across the front and people do mistake that door for the front entrance, but what can you do? I'm a porch person, so I say go for the breezeway. We would have liked to revert, but ours is a very large bedroom with very large closet (attached to HVAC) and it would make the house three bedrooms, instead of four. Your room doesn't sound like it has a very practical function as it is so I say, go for it!

Yes, you add compost and mix it with the native soil. Basically, you dig out a 1 ft. trench that is as deep as your shovel and as wide as your bed (30 inches for example). You carry that soil to the opposite end of the bed. You then take a garden fork (or even your shovel and break up the soil in the bottom of the trench. The next step is that you dig out a second trench the same dimensions as the first, mix that soil with compost and fill in the first hole. You proceed down the bed like that. If you need other amendments, you mix them in when you mix in the compost.

IMO with a 12' ceiling I would look at cable lighting for most of the space . You can get some nice pendant heads from Tech Lighting The pull down fixtures I am familiar with will not function as you are hoping they have a finite cord to the electrical and keep in mind the longer the cord the more sway in really minimal air currents. I would check out Artemide lighting for these 2 choices Aggregato and Falkland both might work id cable is not your choice