I like your ideas.
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If your question is "what tree will work here" you'll have to mention your location and climate.

I don't have the fancy software the some of you have, but I'd like to see for the small tree area a more columnar tree with great bark that get's maybe 30' high. Up close the bark would be the interest and from a distance it would all blend with the general feel of the neighborhood (I see lots of trees in the backyards.

I LOVE the street appeal of your house architecture! Adding the railing will make it that much more beautiful.

Thank you for the comments thus far.

I'm in the St Louis, MO area -- 6a hardiness.
We'll get down to 0-10 in the winters and 100 in the summer.

Last summer decimated the grasses if you didnt have a sprinkler system. I ended up stripping off my whole lawn and reseeding from scratch in the fall.

aloha2009: Thanks for your comments! I'm worried about planting a 30' tree so close to the house. It looks a little odd to me, especially when they mature, and there's always the leaves, twigs on the roof and risk to the house.

BTW, no fancy software, just an ipad and a simple paint program to freehand on the photo.

I'll post some additional photos later of the planting beds.

Magnolia 'Ann' is a good idea in my opinion. I, like yourself, very much enjoy ornamental trees and magnolias are at the top of my "favorites list."

Have you considered something like a tree-trained ("standard") Hydrangea paniculata? It would fit that space perfectly (10 feet maximum)! A hydrangea tree would give you some interesting summer color and would work quite harmoniously, in my opinion, with your overall scheme.

Up against the house, a "lacy" paniculata cultivar (e.g. 'Brussels Lace' or 'Quick Fire') would be preferable to the very-full flowers of say, 'Limelight' or PeeGee.

I put a generic rectangle of leaves up against your posts. I think in one picture the entrance is more inviting than in the other. Your planting scheme might roughly resemble one of these.

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A little closer shots of the space. The last pic is looking down the left side of the house. The hose is approximately where I'm going to extend the beds out to. This left side has tons of opportunity to plant some taller things like tall grass, hydrangeas, etc.

Thanks again for you continued help! Comments have been very helpful. Wish I would have done this a couple of years ago!

Btw, I plan to prune back the azaeleas there, especially the giant white ones starting to bloom, and transplant to the back. Kinda tired of them in the front. They've been there for 9-something years. Ditto on the hostas there, mums, and speedwell just coming up.

To my eye, your extended planting area on the left would "scan" better and the grass would be less awkward to maintain if the bed
ended at the corner of the sidewalk rather than in line with the bed on the other side. Otherwise, your proposal looks much better