Carport Plans

So this is what the carport looks like now, and these are my issues with it:

For one thing, there's a giant row of cabinets... we call it the workbench... on the west side that's not really serving a useful purpose. Sure it's storage, but it isn't secure, and it really isn't pretty. It's not the most well-constructed thing in the world---wonky doors and such---and on top of the "work surface" there are some old phone book pages, or maybe newspaper, fossilized under layers of paint. We tried to sand it off, but it wasn't happening. Also, there are all kinds of chemical residues on the inside, along with boxes of rusted nails and broken tiles that the previous owner left behind (I know I could just take the nails and tiles out... I'm just painting a picture for you).

And then there's this unfortunate effect of its existence: it's turned into a catch-all for our ongoing project paraphernalia: mixing buckets, boxes, scrapers, etc. I know I shouldn't really blame the workbench; that's just us pretending like the carport is a garage, and that no one can see through our invisible garage doors. But if it wasn't there, we couldn't stack things on it.

Anyway, here's my other beef: the front door is on the corner, and then there's another door (the one on the right) that just leads to a small storage area. I don't like the two door thing. I want the main entrance to be prominent, and the other door to be hidden somehow. I also don't want it to feel like a carport... I want it to feel like a front porch or patio... like a loggia, where we happen to park our cars.

So this is my plan...

1. Kill the workbench.
2. Replace the cracked concrete with something pretty: some kind of large paving stones.
3. Put up an L-shaped wooden screen: one side would be on the west side of the carport, and the other would cammoflage the storage room door and the water hose (I forgot to add that to my sketch, but the water hose is to the left of the storage room door.), leaving enough clearance of course for opening the door and passing through to the back gate (something we can't to now because of the workbench).

Here's a better idea of what I think it should look like from the street, with option one for the screen pattern: 

See how the eye is drawn to the front door and seating area instead of to a storage room? I also thought that a pattern like this could be nice:

It's a little bit busier, but not too much. And we could put some simple boxes for plants on the side that faces our neighbors to the west:

So that's my plan. Now I just need lots of time and money.