on the landscape plan - The road frontage is the left hand curved side & the black rectangle is the position of the outdoor fire.

I agree that you should take down the trellis but be aware that you'll probably need to extend your decking rail along that side in order to enclose the deck for building code purposes. If that's more of an expense than you're willing to incur right now, consider at least taking it down to the same height as the rest of your deck and putting a top railing across it. You could then put in some foundation plantings that would climb up and cover the fact that it runs in a different direction than the front of your deck. If I'm looking at it correctly, your gate gives you access to your front door from your drive way. Am I right? In that case, I think your gate should stay where it is. I agree with flair lighting that a new light is in order over your entry. If you like the idea of a motion light, they make decorative outdoor fixtures with motion lights built in. Your fence would definitely look nice painted a lighter color. Right now, as flair said, it's a bit unwelcoming. If you're painting your metal roof, take your house and trim colors from there to coordinate. You could definitely paint your scalloped trim a different color than the house. Matching it to whatever trim color you choose would look great. Do you use the steps from your deck to access your yard? If not, I would consider removing them and closing in that portion of the deck as well. If you do use them, I would add a hand rail for safety purposes. Congratulations on your new house and good luck with your project!

We have a 900x900 shower and it's plenty big enough. Neither of your proposed layouts looks that great, to be perfectly honest, sorry! In the first layout, you could improve it quite a lot by swapping the toilet and vanity (centre the toilet under the window on the bottom right of the picture if possible), and having the shower door on the other wall (beside the door). Then, you could have a towel rail on the wall beside the door (i.e. behind the door when it's open), which would be accessible from the shower but hidden when the door was open. An 800x1200 shower might be a good size for your space. You'd have to choose a toilet that doesn't protrude too far, plus a narrow vanity. With that layout, you could have a long but narrow wall-hung vanity, with a big mirror covering the wall between the windows, which would make the room feel bigger and would give a good amount of storage. Also, you may find this helpful: http://www.houseplanshelper.com/small-bathroom-floor-plans.html?utm_content=buffer4aa20&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Hi, I am building a new house, there will be large sliding doors the full length of the living area cos the view is great. Unfortunately there’s also a road in front of the house! I can mitigate this a bit by having a raised earth mound with grasses on top, also the glass will be tinted (subtlely) but this won’t be much help in the evening when the lights are on inside. I was wondering about strip lighting the edge of the deck or outside walls to counter (or replace) the inside lighting. I don’t want to burn up too much energy though and we are near a dark sky preserve. what about something hanging from the eaves that’s spot-lit?? Any ideas please! - it’s a simple design with a mono pitch roof lower side to the front. Thanks in anticipation BBL