Check out an Equinox Adjustable Louvered Roof. They look like a pergola but the louvers open/close to let in sun or block out rain. This one is from Core Outdoor Living in NoVa. You can see more on their Houzz profile or here http://www.coreoutdoor.com/equinox/. Do a search on adjustable louvered roof installers in your area and get a quote. They're really cool and much more versatile than a plain pergola. They can be clad in anything for any design style and the functionality of being able to open/close the louvers is amazing. Plus, they're way more durable then wood or PVC pergolas b/c they're made from extruded aluminum that stand up to hurricane force winds.

And without you defining what it is exactly you want to achieve other than the proposed hardscaping, we are clueless as how to help you. We can't read your mind.........:-)

I agree with PCC. You need an ARCHITECT and a LANDSCAPE DESIGNER/ARCHITECT in order to work out all the details of an architectural and landscape renovation. Meanwhile, here are some rough ideas to contemplate. (Keep in mind I have no accurate measurements, so this is theory.) One point I'm making is that, as the primary addition, a deck would be more useful than a patio.

"Problem is finding a good paver "setter" who has a bit of creativity & vision." It's a mistake to think that paver installers are the ones that should be responsible for designing the project. Installers are primarily interested in installing the maximum square footage of patio that you will buy, and could probably care less about the layout, other than that they would prefer you provide a good one so they can walk away with pride and end up with a decent project for their portfolio. While they will design it by default, if you don't provide a design, the quality of their ideas will be on on you. If you don't have the design skills (alone or in conjunction with this forum) to design the patio, then you should be consulting with a LANDSCAPE DESIGNER, not a paver installer. Get the design done first, and then find an installer to place it. If you don't have a design (on paper) then you have nothing to bid on. In that case, every contractor you talk to will recommend different things and the pricing will be all over map. You'll have bids you can't compare with other bids because they'll all be for different things. As far as 12' vs. 14' depth, I would consider 12' the absolute minimum usable dimension. A designer would want to know the exact furniture that you're placing on the patio, and the contingencies for when you want to set up for the occasional larger group for special occasions, if that ever happens. Even if it never happens for you, it would be typical of most households. If resale (ever) is a concern, I wouldn't make the patio the absolute smallest a person can "get by" with. One that is of a size usable for a typical "family" with your size house in your type of neighborhood, would be a better choice. Rarely does anyone make a patio that they think is too large. Usually, they're wishing they had a little more space. I suggest figuring out your furniture and all uses and make the patio comfortably large enough to accommodate everything with a little extra room added. There's little point to building something new that you regret soon after you start using it. The difference in cost between barely-big-enough and comfortable is not that great. Buried utilities rarely limit a patio's placement. Water, sewer, gas, electricity are (should be) deep enough to be well below a patio. They might warrant some caution in excavation, but this is nothing to be fretting over. Irrigation lines might be shallow, but still probably won't be a problem. In the worst case scenario, if they are very shallow, they can easily be rerouted. (Some reconfiguration is likely anyway, since you don't want to be watering your patio.) Cable and telephone (if anyone has that any more) tends to the shallowest. These can both be rerouted to a lower placement or different route. Whether you abut or space it away from the structure, in order to make room for foundation beds, make the patio length (its longest dimension) be parallel to the home, not perpendicular to it. (Something said earlier made me think this was possibly going wrong.)