What climate zone are you in or where are you located? Can you take a photo that shows the entire front yard? I can't tell where you park or how guests walk to your front door. If you search Houzz for 'entrance gardens' you will see many examples of homes with wide paths leading from the street to the front door. Do you like to garden? You have a lovely house and would not want to hide any of the porch area so keep the plantings around the porch low. You can plant some taller plants at the base of each post but these should also stay low and not get higher than 3' to 4'. It looks like the garage may be in the back of the house with a fence along the driveway. You could have low growing roses along the fence and flower beds at the front of the house if you like to garden. Location and more pictures would help us to give suggestions for the garden.

Solitude is life. Can't get angry at yourself for not washing the dishes, but when they're someone elses' dishes, all hell breaks loose.

Thanks Mel. We'll see what we can do to make the rumpus enclosed - it's probably more of a "man cave" at the moment :) Grandad had a dining table in his current place (which is bigger) and got rid of it because he never used it. He also wants more bench space than he currently has. So, this was a deliberate choice rather than a compromise due to lack of space. You've reminded me now that someone did warn us earlier in the design process about the back and forth between wardrobe and bathroom becoming annoying over time. We don't currently have an en suite so it feels wonderfully convenient for us by comparison. However, that feeling will change if we realise it could have been even better. We did have the en suite off the wardrobe in some designs but have been warned this can lead to dampness in your clothes no matter how well ventilated the bathroom is (especially in Auckland's humidity). Would love to hear people's experiences of this configuration - good and bad. On top of that, there are lovely private bush views to the south so we've tried to make the most of those.

I have no idea what the relevant building rules are for your area , but I like your 'jailbar' idea , timber ( I'm guessing you'd need to get good solid timber -- no knots that may crack when someone runs into it playing indoor rugby haha ) stained dark -- it would contrast and compliment the lighter honey stained timber . It looks like your idea though is to take it straight across to the window ? I'd follow the existing L shape -- it would make the room a bit darker , but the stairwell would be as light as at present , plus there'd be no extra problems with taller people or furniture up the stairwell .