Matt, I hate to be a Negative Nancy, but if you have sinking driveway slabs....you may need to do new concrete first. Check out the drainage from the roof, etc. to see if you've got an unwanted water feature somewhere. Any other material you may use on the patio (and stone would certainly be pretty) is going to need a solid subsurface. Yes, concrete. You'd probably need to demo the existing concrete before doing an overlay due to its instability and the fact that the drop from the doors to the patio is not very high. One concrete treatment that is common is washed aggregate. We did our driveway in this, and had the concrete tinted so it wasn't just gray with rocks poking out. And no, we did not tint it green. There is also no requirement that you do expansion joints in strictly rectangular fashion. We did a random pattern of curves instead, so you could make it look more designish (the new word I just made up) by using that sort of technique. As far as features go, give the kids what they want. They won't be there forever. You can do what you want later. :)

@JD, you bring up a good point about tile size. In one pic, it looked like a square wall tile to me but now, on closer look, it reads like a 5 x 7 which would not be original, IIRC. Not a tile expert but I do recall plenty of pics of colourfully tiled 40s bathrooms which I wouldn't describe as "modern" unless "modern" simply conveys contemporary. For anyone interested, this Old House Journal article describes bathroom styles from the 20s to 40s.

Hi Beverly, I did order samples of the wallpapers. I’m afraid you’re right about my choice being too busy. Additionally, it’s a large pattern and might be too broken up on my dining room walls which don’t have large expanses visible. Sigh, I’m starting to rethink my whole project. When I look at my inspiration rooms, almost all feature a healthy dose of my favorite colors, blue and green. I love my living room rug but I think the orange is so dominant and likely precludes my use of blue or green. I’ve booked an in-home consultation with an interior designer and hope she can point me in a better direction.

Honestly, now that I see gold in your countertops, consider waiting to change out the surround. Do you see how they "talk" to each other? Add a large rug in gold and your wall color. Get a light beautiful artwork over the mantel in golds, and light colors. Add sofa pillows that echo the art work. Fill the firebox with birch logs with some logs on the hearth. That will look great for a long time until your budget allows for bigger changes. Going forward, make sure what ever you add already relates to your "givens," cabinets, flooring, countertops. Add light pillows, art in light frames or no frames. This will balance the browns you don't care for. Palette for large rug with current mantel and current countertops, wall, floor.