I live quite near you and have considerable shade. Viburnums are a good choice; there is a big variety to choose from too. Other understory trees/shrubs for our zone include dogwood, pieris, rhododendron, azaleas, euonymus (not burning bush, invasive here!),and hydrangeas. I have a caryopteris that does well in medium shade with late afternoon sun, and a weigela that is also happy in shade. Also grape holly and boxwood. There are others, like daphne, that I haven't tried but are supposed to be shade shrubs. You have to be careful about which of the colored hydrangeas; some are "cold hardy" meaning the roots don't die, but the rest of the shrub will die down to the ground and you never get blooms. The labels will not tell you that! Others like "Endless Summer" do fine since they bloom on both old and new growth; and there are some that are native here that don't bloom pink or blue, only white, yet are reliable. Of the colored varieties, to get blue flowers you have to put peat moss or ammonium sulfate in the planting hole to get them the acid they need; otherwise they bloom pink. Rhododendrons and azaleas will also require acid amended soil to do well, but they can do very well For almost all plants we need to lighten up our soil to improve drainage. Easily done by digging in some vegetative material, sand, pebbles etc. The county soil and water district is offering plants at great prices right now: Here is a link that might be useful: budget friendly plant sale from Franklin County

A steep hip roof should be significantly more expensive to build than something like a 6/12 gabled roof. You won't save money going to a hip roof. A steeply pitched roof in country that doesn't require one is a design fad. A few months ago, someone posted something like, "What current fad will scream 2009 twenty years from now?" I think it will be the needlessly steeply pitched roof and the gables galore syndrome. Both drive up the price of the build, increase the cost of maintenance, and probably will hurt resale in years to come. This is just my opinion, so take it for whatever you will, but there is no way I would build a "buried" screened porch like the one in your plans. A screened porch needs to be in the open as much as possible in order to get that outdoors feeling and some breezes. There are other problems with yours as designed as well. As designed, you will have to build and insulate three exterior wall portions common to the porch, instead of just one or two. That is going to increase costs. You are also building an outdoor environment over your basement. That is an invitation to leaks and adds additional insulation costs. Your terrain shows a very steep slope due to grading in a manner that brings the land up to the screen porch level. That will require a retaining wall, another expense. If you don't grade that way, your screened porch will have to have a 36' railing, which will add to the closed in feeling of a three walled porch. If you really want a screened porch, redesign the house so that the porch is only dependent on one exterior wall and is not over the basement, but on decking, like our build (not yet screened). You don't have to extend the entire roof to covered the screened porch, which is essentially what we have done. You can always add a shed roof over the screened porch. That seems to be the most common way it's done. If the deck extends beyond the screened porch, the corresponding screened wall will not require a 36" railing. The deck railing will meet the code requirement instead. It's something to keep in mind. Lastly, orient the house and the screened porch so that it is shaded or sunny as you desire at the right time of day. The wrong orientation can ruin the functionality of the porch.

Quercus coccinea and Quercus rubra are red in the Fall, not all year. Fall color in oaks varies a lot from individual to individual. If you want Fall color, buy your tree in the Fall and look at it. Quercus coccinea is the oak with the best chance of having good red Fall color. It is short lived...for an oak. (It will still likely outlive you). Likes dry sandy soil, hard to transplant. Fairly salt tolerant. Doesn't like wet feet. Reports differ as to whether the number two spot for Fall color in an oak goes to Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra) or white oak (Quercus alba). Both pretty salt tolerant, red oak probably more so. Red oak transplants more easily and grows faster, white oak is longer lived and more disease resistant. Occasionally has red leaves briefly in Sprng. Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) also has great red Fall color and is known for having Fall color in areas that are usually too warm for fall color. Should tolerate any conditions a sycamore can. Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) tends not to have good Fall color but tolerates alkaline soil. I will agree with floral_uk z.8/9...beeches in general are among my favorite trees. Copper ones are awesome. Out of curiosity, what didn't you like about sycamore?

Thank you ! Hadn't thought of the front door but now I see how it can make a change - board and batten is what I aim for, just did not know the name, so thank you for that! Windows must be replaced, they are currently wood casing and well original to the home (1989)- Ohhh Amanda @ New Collective, You got me! I love it! That is exactly what I wish to achieve. SO pretty, fresh and modern! Have you done/seen this transformation on a Saltbox style home before? I am not sure who I should be consulting to render/give me an example of how this would look on the shape of the home. Would I need a designer ( to render the image/choose the siding/colors) or the siding company to do this?