Intimate Dining (1 of 12): This charming period house in a seaside village in Connecticut has everything but space. The entire "back yard" of the property is actually to the right of the main house, with a flat-roofed extension at the rear. And so the dining terrace was uncomfortably exposed both to chatty neighbors and camera-toting tourists. The challenge: To create plenty of serious privacy for the owners while also keeping a polite public face on the whole property. An enormous green-leaved Japanese maple ensures welcome shade for the owners, but also puts a garden that is already on the North side of the house at a further disadvantage in terms of the quick and dense horticulture that is the essence of satisfying privacy.