Looking for feedback and tips on how to design our family garden

Our house is still being built and we are starting from scratch regarding the garden. only the hedges on the sides are existing as well as the house.

I have been planning the garden for some months now and am still very unsure which is the best option. I am hoping for some advice or any new ideas I haven’t thought of 🙂

see the pictures for some of my designs as well as an explanation on there tuings are located in our house.

read on for further description of our situation.

here is whats important to us:

– exit to patio is from the living room

– view from office should not be blocked by garage, ideally should be able to look down driveway (not a must)

-a connection between patio and office doors would be nice so one can step out of the office to sit in the sun for a minute or two

– patio large enough for big table and easy walking around to lawn

– 4 small kids and a dog need space to play – at least one area of lawn, one area farther in the back for nature play- bushes, logs, earth to dig in, wild plants that can be cut, a playhouse

– the front hedge can’t be changed (protected)

-the entrance to the driveway must remain where it is.

– I love the idea of having lots of different areas in the garden to explore, I like having lots of flower beds with perennials and I also want many smaller trees for shade in different spaces. At the same time i would like to be able to have an easy overview of the entire garden from my kitchen window (small kids and a dog).

heres our problems and questions:

– having the parking (carport) and driveway only at the south end leaves the rest of the garden nice and open. The view from the office isnt blocked. you would also be able to fence the entire yard leaving out the parking and would be able to leave the dog in the yard safely. downside: the cars aren’t inside the fence and more prone to being stolen. Also the walk from the car to the front door is a little farther.

– having the carport closer to the house blocks a huge part of the garden in the middle of the garden. You would also need to have a lot more of the garden paved (I would like as little as pavement as possible) and would have less space for lawn and flowerbeds. You would also need to fence the entire yard and have a large automatic gate by the street which is more expensive. Also, in order to block views from the street into the entire yard, you would need to plant bushes ect and this in turn would block my view from the kitchen window to the gate. As I am a forgetful person, the possibility of the gate being open and is not realizing is a hazard for the kids and the dog.

only having a double carport right at the street is an option, but we would like to have two parking spaces for our two cars as well as free space on the rest of the driveway for a guest car so we don’t always have people parking on the street which would annoy the neighbors.

Patio:

is there any other out of the box idea for how to shape the patio that I haven’t thought of? (Thinking of where peopöe would walk to get to the lawn, where one would sit in the sun and where one would rather sit if it gets unbearably hot in the sun)