The grass or vegetation looks pretty nice. Since you didn't complain about it (as in it is a bunch of weeds that you also want to get rid of), then I might suggest using paver stones to make a path. The grass will still grow up to the stone and need cutting or trimming, but you can achieve the path without too much digging or ground prep. If you decide to go with pea gravel, I would dig down a few inches, lay landscape fabric or weedblock, then fill in with pea gravel. You may also want some kind of border so that the gravel or dirt don't eventually mix up together on the side of the path. I don't recommend to put the gravel on the soil directly because weeds will eventually grow through, and also as you step on the gravel over time, it just sinks more and more into the ground. The fabric helps to not sink in as much, even though you do still get it a little bit.

Those are not oak cabinets. As I started reading this thread, I was starting to compose a reply -- "Am I the only one thinking those are not oak?" but then started running into a growing number of folks saying the same thing. They have a tight grain that looks like maple or possibly cherry, but the way they appear to have taken a stain makes me thing maple. Maple has a tendency to not accept stain evenly and you have some lighter and darker areas. I suspect they are not alder because that is a softer wood and I don't see any dings. They do appear to be in good shape. I'd work with them. As said above, if you have money for granite and tile floors, you have money for paint or stain. If you are willing to take the time to learn and DIY on the cabinets, you may be able to do both. You showed us a lot of the kitchen, but not two things I'd like to see -- your lighting and the cooktop. Do you have a vent hood? Does it exhaust or recirculate the air? I'm wondering if the cabinets have years of gunk built up on them. They look not only yellowed, but possibly dirty or dry. I would give them a really good cleaning for starters. You can't paint or stain until you do that anyway. Then I'd look at the lighting -- It looks like it may be adding to the yellow cast to everything. Any chance you have an older florescent fixture in the kitchen? The wood color looks better in the breakfast nook than it does in the kitchen. Changing or improving your lighting and cleaning your cabinets could make things look a lot different and neither of those should be budget busters. I would paint the walls with some color and then step back and take a look. If you want darker hardware, I'd buy new. It doesn't have to be expensive, but painting hardware is likely to be very temporary. So far, with DIY, we're looking at a few hundred dollars. I would like to remove the soffit in the kitchen itself if possible. If not, I'd paint it or give it a deep crown treatment to carry the cabinet line to the ceiling. You could also paint the ceiling crown to match the ceiling if it will not bother you that is will then be different that the rest of the house. I would not paint the window trim -- the window itself is stained wood and matches all your other windows. Once you get to that point, I would make a decision on painting, gel staining or stipping the cabinets and refinishing. Those are all things you can DIY, but paint and stripping will be time intensive -- which is why there is a lot of cost to them, especially if they need a lot of cleaning and prep work. You don't want any painter who isn't looking at good prep work because the job will not be good or last unless they do it right.

I don't know.... Most homemade potting soil mixes are complicated and expensive enough to make you wish you went to the store and bought some. Priced a bag of perlite or vermiculite lately? I mostly improvise. I had a real successful fig mix by mixing peat moss roughly 50-50 with fine screened (1/4 inch) compost. It's just exploding this year. I've also riffed on the "gritty mix" formula by adding diatomaceous earth sweeping compound I got at the auto parts store. (Use respiratory protection!). One thing about my homemade stuff is that it's a lot more durable than store bought potting mix. The stuff is usually better the second year than the first. Don't mix it with garden soil but don't sweat it too much either. I'm like you, though. Spending lots of money on bags of this and that is not where it's at. I try and keep my bag purchases to commodity type things.

a couple more thoughts... a ceiling light fixture will help and bring some interest for sure. have you thought more about one? art absolutely will help and so will pillows. I also think you might want to consider new inserts for pillows if you can. and larger size pillows like 20inx20in, not sure how that translates in com, but large size pillows will help. consider the size of the insert one size up from the size of the cover so it fills out the pillow and makes if more fluffy. if you get feather down inserts i would consider that too. thought I would share a couple pics that show how just a few additional features will make a difference. I like the idea of a couple large pillows on the floor too. I would style the coffee table a bit too