Thank you all for the responses. texas-weed, I have not taken any offense to your comments, and will continue to welcome any feedback. Yours is especially helpful because of your expertise with this area. Would you be able to speak to the success rate of Zoysia in this area? I've some some really deep emerald grasses in the shopping centers that look absolutely beautiful. I've been told that this is Zoysia. All of the trees have some degree of issue with surface roots. I have three trees, however, each one is about 75 ft from the other. I'm posting a link to some other shots to give you an idea of the canopy. You can see that I have been attempting to raise the canopy and thin the tree to allow for more sun. It seems that the builder didn't put a lot of through into planning this yard, because I have giant Crape Myrtles growing right under the eaves, and a Live Oak no more than 12-14ft from my house. I am not a fan of St. Augustine, and I would like to avoid it if at all possible. The neighbor has it, and the other half of my lawn that is divided by the cement walkway is thoroughly St. Augustine. At some point I had hoped to install a french drain for drainage and form a physical barrier to re-establish the Bermuda on that side. This feels more and more unlikely by the day. I do have issues with erosion, and I also have trouble setting the mower low enough (though I can mow at the second to lowest setting if I'm VERY careful) because of the exposed roots. I would like to level the lawn somehow, or build it up and regrade it, but I have no idea where to even begin attempting this. I'm concerned that the lawn will be much higher than the sidewalk. Thank you for the information about Common Bermuda, I'll check out the Tiffway 419 to see if that hybrid resembles my lawn. You may have noticed that the grass was pretty high in my previous photos, and that is because I was working long hours. I'm currently working on cutting it back down to the second setting on my mower. Here is a link to the gallery showing the tree: http://img695.imageshack.us/g/img1290i.jpg/ Please disregard the butchered Crape Myrtles if they are apparent, the previous owner was very hands off with this yard and the gentleman performing the lawn services apparently subscribes to the popular belief about cutting them back in the winter. Again, all feedback is much appreciated.

E, here's my criteria for kitchen design; I hope it's helpful in your case. --The kitchen triangle still works and makes sense, so plan you kitchen to maximize the work triangle (this means, among other things, don't stick a humongeous island the size of the USS Ronald Reagan in the middle of the triangle); --Refigerator and pantry belong together, since that's where a lot of the food prep starts; --The refigerator and pantry should be oriented close to where the food arrives from the grocery store after purchase; --Sink and dishwasher belong side by side, with the dishwasther closest to the dining area; --Cooking may vary from a single drop-in range/oven to a seperate cook top and seperate oven(s)/microwave; --Whatever the cooking arrangement is, keep the cooking units close to one another (in the triangle); --Cooktops need ventilation, and the most effective is a hood above the cooktop that is at least 6" wider than the cooktop on either side (a lot more can be said about hoods, including CFM, location of exhaust fan, duct size, etc); --Cooktops create grease, so plan the adjacent backsplash and wall finishes accordingly (that wonderful detailed tiled wall may soon have the grout lines darkened with grease, depending on what and how you frequently cook) --Provide space for the number of people expected in the kitchen at the same time, i.e., 4'-0 is the minimum space for one person to open a cabinet or refrigerator door. If you expect more than one person at a time in the kitchen, increase dimensions in that area to 5'-6' minimum --Storage: decide where the kitchen-related storage should be and where the dining-related storage should be and put each there! That's why the old "Butler's Pantry" was and is a good idea when it comes to storage. Hope this helps. Good luck on your project!

"mondo grass, coontie, foxtail fern, cardboard palm, pinwheel jasmine, foxtail palm, bottle palm, cordyline (black spoon), and bromeliads, with some oyster plants around a plumeria (for color when it is bare)" Mondo grass - plant LOTS of it. It grows just slightly faster than rocks. Foxtail fern - big mistake. It's now listed as an invasive. You'd be better off with Boston Fern, which is a Florida native, and is also quite invasive, but it can be controlled. Pinwheel Jasmine - looks good for a couple of years, but tends to get leggy. This was one of my favorite plants when I was in the landscape trade. Foxtail Palms - The current "queen palm". There are many of them out there and they should do well in zone 9, but there are 100s of other less used, more interesting palms to choose from. Cordyline - good plant, try for a few different varieties. Bromeliads - for big ones, Aechmea blanchetiana is pretty much the standard and the best bloom. Blue Tango is spectacular when it's in bloom, the rest of the year it's just green. For ground cover, concentrate on the Neoreglias. They bloom in the cup and stay small. Oyster Plants - highly invasive. They will not stay where you plant them. Consider another ground cover.

How do you plan to enter your house on a daily basis? Where will your parking be? What direction does the house face? This plan has bigger issues than swapping the laundry room and pantry. Where do you come in and kick your shoes off? Where do you park and how will you unload your groceries? How do you access the side yards without going in and out the front door or the back french doors, which, btw, would be a pain if you're using those doors frequently. Many homes have side doors for family entrance and yard access or at least a single door entrance on the rear of a house near a corner. Will your basement have a daylight entrance? If not, it's going to be really hard to get anything big to the basement with the stairs location. Sorry for the questions but I'm just trying to make you dig deep ;)