Thanks - the shed would not be for the trash cans, plan would be to redo the fencing around the cans for concealment, and then do a shed for the other part so that I could lock up bicycles, tools, etc. That first pic that Larri posted is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. Contractor is giving me about a $3000 quote to do something like that for that space. A bit more than I had in mind, but thinking about it. Ultimately yes, I would like an enclosed garage. However, that's a much bigger and more expensive job. Also, the space is plenty big for a carport, but as a garage it would actually be on the smaller side. My truck barely fits in the carport, I think with a garage door I'd find that it didn't fit at all.

Before painting anything or adding color anywhere I would pick my color pallet. Figure out everything in the house that has to stay. (Not changing the flooring/countertops/ tile in bathrooms . . .) Figure out what you are bringing into the home that you love and will not change for a long time. Look at everything you own, art, clothing, jewlery, makeup, bed linens . What are the colors that you love? Everyone has a few favorites. You want your home to reflect your personality. Are you a jeans and tshirt gal or a pearls and lace kind of girl? Do you love bright, bold colors, or pastels or deep sultry colors? Which colors? Now examine your home. When are you going to use each room and how will you use it? What kind of energy do you want to experience in that room. Do you throw formal cocktail parties or football bbqs or simple family gatherings? Do you like to relax in the tub at the end of a long day or grab a quick shower to wake you up in the morning. Do you want a sultry sexy bedroom or a relaxing retreat? Now you can put all the pieces together. Lay out the colors that have to stay, lay out the colors that you want to stay. Lay then out in the order that you will see each room. If you can see your dining room from the kitchen you want these next to each other and the colors you pick will need to work together, but the colors you pick for the master bath don't have to work well with the kitchen, but need to work with the master bedroom, which has to work with the hall, witch has to work with the stairs, which have to work with the living room, which has to work with the dining room which we already established, has to work with the kitchen. Add the colors that you love. If you pick purple and lime for the kitchen you will want to bring those colors into the dining room, but maybe just a touch of the lime and more concentrated on the purple, then the livingroom needs to have purple, but doesn't have to have lime, and you may decide to introduce some red. Move from room to room, bringing colors that you love into the pallet, sometimes in a deep or bright version and other times in softer forms, making sure that the shades and versions of the colors make you feel the way you need to feel in each room. My colors are teal, purple and burgundy and my foyer happens to have red/purple/green slate flooring. I am using those 3 colors with taupe as my neutral throughout the main part of my home. Teal walls in my guest bedroom, guest bath and master bath and a deep smokey purple in my bedroom. I have a lot of the deep reds in my upholstry and art and things. I also happen to love lime green, but it won't work with teal, so I am continuing the taupe and purple into the basement where I will be doing a deep purple taupe and lime green accents. Basement will mainly be used as a game room, and it will be a place to hang some of the art that I have from a trip to Costa Rica that is brighter and greener than the decor I have elsewhere. I really think that every woman should feel like a 10 in every room of her home. The colors that make you feel wonderful about yourself and about life should surround you.

Well, creating storage niches is simple, then. Plan how big (wide and tall you want the niches. Presumably they will be less than about 14.5" wide (16" minus 3/4" times 2), otherwise you'll have to remove 2' x 4's. If it's a non-loading bearing outside wall you can remove studs; but check with an engineer or carpenter. It's likely load bearing if on outside wall. With the age of the house your studs may be farther or closer apart, too. You may also want to pack around the inside of the box (niche) with hard styrofoam insulation, which has greater R value than fiberglass. May also want to use canned spray foam to further seal? This way after removing some insulation you won't have as much of a cold spot on outside wall where niche is. There's a number of pre-made (pop-in) solutions like this: https://www.wayfair.com/storage-organization/pdp/wg-wood-products-bal-harbour-155-w-x-495-h-recessed-shelving-wgwp1493.html This example is interior wall. See here for a DIY: https://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/rooms-and-spaces/walls-and-ceilings/how-to-make-a-wall-niche Second approach, similar to above but narrower: https://www.familyhandyman.com/storage-organization/build-a-wall-niche/

Some suggestions pretty much in line with everyone else: --Get an under sink garbage can Rev a Shelf from big box stores has an undersink pullout and is very easy to install. --Coffee setup goes in kitchen. --When you add new pieces like side tables and a coffee table, get them in the wood of your dining table so they echo each other. Natural wood will add texture to your too-smooth surfaces. This coffee table would be best if you replace your very nice rug with a nice patterned rug. Your room desperately needs pattern and a bit of color. I see a colorful vertical art work near fireplace wall. Put it up next to the window. Or find a wonderful vertical mirror with wood trim to put by the window to reflect light coming in. That would help balance the mass of the black TV screen. A few live plants in front of it would be reflected as well. Get a horizontal art work with this palette or a pair of unmatched vertical art works in this palette of golds, gray, a touch of turqoise, lime, etc. Then get pillows in the secondary colors. If you're shy about pattern and color, go abstract with just one secondary color. This bit of gold would echo dining table--maybe something like this could go in dining room since it's visible from living room. Rug palette has pattern, some of your gray, but beautiful gold to reflect dining table across the way. Forgot to add coffee station. With garbage can out of sight, a small MCM little cabinet behind couch at end of cabinet would be functional and attractive in yoiur space: