Hi Homebound, replied to your post over in windows and followed your link over here. A lot of wonderful ideas here! Your original idea of what to do in the front sounds real good. I would keep the trees too, it is so rare to have two large trees nowadays. I cannot see where they are relative to the edge of your yard and sidewalk but if they are far enough to the middle of the yard, I would build a nice wood covered patio designed around the trees. In other words, when it is done, it will look like you trucked in the trees to complement the structure. A nice low picket fence or rod-iron or ranch style along the front marks a nice boundary and also provides security. If you need the grass for children, I would then plant low brush along fence line to prevent people from being able to just hop over. An alternative will be to convert some of the lawn into flower beds and install secluded seating areas. It is nice to have a place like this where you can just do as you please from scratch! Have fun!

Refinished a vanity (now used as a changing table) and a nightstand with very similar style and almost identical hardware to your piece and used these oil rubbed bronze cup cabinet pulls from overstock.com. Both are painted white with a dark brown stained top, and the pulls look fabulous! Not suggesting you paint your dresser since yours has a great finish, but just wanted to comment that the cup pulls worked well for us. However, all of our pulls were the same size, so we didn't have an issue there. Here is a link that might be useful: oil rubbed bronze cup cabinet pull

Garage will be detached and to the left of the house, the primary entrance is in the mud room. Our best views are from the back and the right side of the house. The left side where the pantry is located is facing a neighbors property which isn't unsightly now but I can't guarantee what the future holds. We put the pantry there to keep path for groceries and traffic to a minimum when coming into house. The left side of house will be simplified by the time we build, we kept load bearing walls to a minimum so we have flexibility to change as we want. I originally didn't post entire house so we could focus on kitchen but I saw your point and went ahead and added pic. I also chose to keep the left side of the house the service area of the house, I wanted to do my best containing dirt,noise,normal clutter to one area, with 3 kids and a Bernese puppy (100lbs) we have a lot of traffic. Going back and forth to schools, practices, taking dog out,kids running upstairs and downstairs, trips up and down for laundry etc. it all adds up. We knew hallways are considered wasted space to some but to us the hallways are important for their function. Hall to left of stairs and hallway from mudroom will be the most traveled area in our home, the main corridor from our front porch to back door, the laundry path from the upstairs, and our path to our bedroom. Which is why I made them extra wide, it's not for everybody but to me a giant foyer and huge master bath is my idea of wasted space. The kitchen will serve as a link between our hectic side and living room/dining room area which is to be our sanctuary. Not to noisy or busy when guests are over you can chat and visit without interruption (hard to do with family) and with the dining room in between it seemed as a good conduit to separate the noise from the kitchen not only dishwasher, banging cabinets etc.. but If you prefer to listen to music as you cook it's not drowning out a movie in the living room. I think my wife likes to have the kitchen to herself sometimes so not having directly next to living room but still in line of sight is perfect. We have huge extended family so holidays will mean 30-35 people and so the expanded space will allow the crowd. I did forget to mention that the media/fireplace wall is just a concept at this point something will need to be there but I don't want it to block LR out, possibly a knee wall The back wall and right side of house face the east and with 14-3' x5' windows along the mudroom, kitchen and dining room I cant see light being an issue, I know the pantry window is a small nuisanance but its in line with the island, plus I can see out mudroom windows and I can also see the other 3 sides of the house from standing at the island (try finding a stock plan that does that). I'm trying to understand which wall you think I should bump out, I'm assuming you mean the jog at the rear of the pantry? The kitchen itself is already bumped out the entire back of the house. Are you suggesting further out or removing the jog behind the pantry. The red walls indicate the load bearing walls, not walls that I plan on removing.I think the biggest issue at the moment is trying to determine what the best placement would be IF we had no option to change, then if the best options seemed insufficient then we would have to consider further changes. It's hard for me think that a 17' by 12' kitchen would be so challenging, I guess the lack of wall space is the sticking point. Let me know if you have any further suggestions. Thanks again for taking time to look at.

Agree with @JustMe's suggestions. The white cabinet on the short wall actually constricts the traffic path past the sofa, because it prevents you from taking a diagonal path at the wall - you have to clear the cabinet before you can angle past it. And visually it's a "look at me" accent piece in a small area. Not a good look. I'd remove it entirely. On the wall where it is now I'd exchange the horizontal piece of art work for the smaller vertically-oriented piece of art work that's around the corner from it. It will look bare to you at first but give it some time. Leave that smaller wreath-facing wall empty. That will give you more physical and visual space to move the sofa over. A 48" space between the wall and the sofa arm is sufficient, especially without the white cabinet. Your room will look more spacious with the chaise side of the sofa pulled away from the window. Right now it looks jammed against the window. Center the rug on the sofa. Only the front foot of the sofa needs to be on the rug. Stationary drapes on either side of the window will give your room a much more finished look. It will also draw attention to your large attractive window and to the view beyond. I would go with blue. Not sure what you have there now - is it a blind? Before you buy anything new, see what you can do with the stuff you have. I'd remove the wreath that's centered on the window wall. It's neither in the kitchen nor the living room, and doesn't add to either room. Wait until you have added drapes to see whether that wall needs anything. A good strategy is to remove the smaller decor and wall items until the larger stuff (sofa position etc.) is decided. Then see what you need to add. Sometimes, "filling in" spaces with decor just adds to a cluttered look and draws attention away from the more attractive parts of your room, e.g. the wreath draws attention away from the attractive view out the window. Do you need more evening lighting in the living room area? Maybe an arc lamp behind the sofa in front of the wreath wall? Or plug-in sconces against the wall to softly light the wall without any glare? But that's the step after the big pieces of furniture have been placed.