I would like to second what saypoint and wellspring said, not as a professional landscaper or even an avid gardener but as a homeowner that was in your situation a short time ago. We recently built our house and doing the landscaping was every bit as challenging as designing our kitchen, which was the most complex room in our house. We hired a professional to do a plan for us, but unfortunately she bailed on us after doing a preliminary plan. However, even though it was preliminary, it was light years beyond what I could have done. The plan cost us $400, which I considered to be money well spent. If you want an idea of what the plan looked like, go here: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/design/msg0623022121666.html I do not think a $500 landscape allowance will get you much. The one Japanese maple we bought for the front, which is about an inch in diameter, cost us $250. We have about .4 acres of property and we have spent $12,000 to date, which does not include the hardscape, rockery (which we hunted for ourselves) or the majority of the back area that slopes down to the lake. It does include the bark and gravel (for the paths) though. Because we could not call or confer with our landscape designer, we had to do our own research not only about plants but about landscape design. We probably spent between 100 to 200 hours since March reading and researching. This forum and the generous people who frequent it were amazingly helpful. However, in the end it was up to us to make the correct decisions. Here are some things we found helpful that have not already been mentioned. 1. All of this can be very overwhelming if you try to take it all on at once. So pace yourself. Start with some of the basics. For example, you need to know what USDA zone you are in because that is key to what you can plant. If you don't know what this means, go to: http://www.backyardgardener.com/zone/ 2. Because we did not have a designer onsite with us, we hired a landscaper that worked with a local nursery. He was a godsend. He was able to make many useful suggestions, including substituting plants for ones on the design that were not workable. For example, there were some plants on the plan that were very high maintenance or did not work with our soil or that I didnt want because they were completely overdone in our neighborhood (like Arbor vitae). The one drawback was that we had to buy plants that this nursery stocked if we wanted them to be guaranteed. Of course, we were free to buy and plant whatever we wanted, but if they died the nursery would not replace it. 3. It is critical to understand landscape design principles, which are similar to the principles of decorating your house. Without this foundation, it is very difficult to achieve a nice look with your plant selections. There are many resources for this, but one book we liked was Ann Lovejoy's Organic Garden Design School. There are many threads in this forum on design. What we learned is that a successful candidate for your yard needs to be correctly zoned; have the appropriate color, texture, and look that you are after; met the appropriate light or shade parameters of where it is planted; fit into the space you are putting it once it is mature; match the type of soil you are putting it in; should provide interest in as many seasons as possible; should play nice with the other plants in your garden; should compliment the other plants near it; and should met your maintenance requirements (high, medium, or low maintenance). 4. You should assess your landscape first for the hardscape needs (walkways, patios, etc.) before you start planting. If this house is being newly built, you may want to talk to your contractor about this. Once you put in your landscaping, it may be impossible to get heavy equipment into the appropriate areas. 5. A plant database website is helpful for finding out more about the plants you are considering. Here is one that I like, even though it has a limited selection of plants to choose from: http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/a/a.html 6. You need to consider a couple of other criteria. One is how much water a plant needs. Since we are in Central WA, we tried to choose as many plants as possible that were drought tolerant. Choosing plants that work well with your local ecology makes good financial and pragmatic sense. The second thing to educate yourself about is the potential invasiveness of a plant in order to avoid a very nasty experience. Here is one example of a site that helps with this: http://www.easywildflowers.com/invasive.htm Your state probably has a site like this one for WA: http://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weed_list/weed_list.htm Good luck!

laura-the young couple that bought the home next to ours about 3 years ago put so much into it when it was more a buyers market. They put in all tile floors, marble counters and tile showers. The home was just over a year old when they bought it. Their parents built in our neighborhood about the same time we did. The parents owned their own business and her hubby is a commercial painter. As time went on, her hubby was finding jobs hard to come by. The parents sold their home and the neighbors is on the market. I feel so bad, they left for Jacksonville where they all found good work and better home prices, however, they are gonna loose their pants if their lovely starter home even sells. We were lucky 5 yrs ago to be in the right place at the right time. The building market was booming, and we found we could build new with more sq footage and lot size than taking over the townhouse we were living in, at the time we planned to gut and remodel. I have been in the real estate, construction and development field for many years in Florida. Now, I can't buy a job. Good luck to you. It's an opportune time for buyers that do not have a current mortgage or are in the green to buy!

remodelzombie - I learned about the silgranit sink through other posts on GW. Just do a search here and you'll find lots of helpful info. I went from a double bowl to this large single and I love it! It works great for us. kmo1 - I purchased the rug through Hom Furniture, but it's a Karastan so you can find it all over. The design is called Plum Blossom and it also comes in reverse colors. It is pulling up in some spots, so they are replacing it. I hope I don't have the same problem with the new one because I really like the look of it. Brutuses - Thanks. I love your home and have enjoyed following your build. You have been very helpful to me with our build.

The curved shower rods - if you have one, try Home Goods. They usually carry several at ours, in a few finishes (I know I've seen lots of nickel and ORB). I've seen quite a few ORB ones at TJ Maxx as well. Shower curtains - in natural texture bathrooms, I'm partial to PBS textiles. I can't get enough of the natural fibers. (I've even used a pair of their window panels to make an extra long shower curtain in our master bath). I know they're everyday, but I can't help it. Their mineral raynier line is coming to mind. Here's a close-up of the fabric. I have this line of curtains in a different color scheme and the striping is much more subtle, this is greatly magnified.