And rough top down plan of the front

Is the "Plan" primarily showing proposed changes? It is not clear what some of the things are intended to be. Is it your perception, elderwen, that the plantings in front of the entrance help to enhance the overall view of the property? If the front bedroom needs privacy from the street, why not use some sort of window treatment rather than skew all landscaping to perform a job that it cannot do as well as something else (given the overall parameters and property limitations)?

The plan view is of the current layout - generally.

Most of the plantings are left overs from before, and no, not particularly attractive. I like the Camelias (not visible on the right), but they are very badly placed, and evidently hard to transplant?

The idea of enclosing part of the front yard into a pocket came for several reason - the two current ones are
1) I liked the idea of being able to open the french doors from the bedroom into a private garden.
2) the front get the morning sun, so it's the best place to take morning coffee and more privacy is nice for that.

The reasons you give for enclosing part of the front yard for privacy are justification enough. But it will be hard to help you with your overall goals if we can't see the french doors of which you speak, and the entrance door and the relationship between the two. Some architectural screening (privacy fence/screen) adorned with quaint details, and possibly vines, seems like it might be better than a fat, sprawling bush for producing the fine line between public and private in such a small yard. We need to see the right half of the house so if you could add a picture or two, it would help. What is the snakey-stemmed, multi-trunked tree at the left corner of the yard? What are the two shrubs in front of the blue section of the house? What is the blooming tree overhead? And the location is?