This would be why you 'water' your foundations - pretty much all of Texas has clay soils, high temperatures, and random but alternating periods which vary in length, of drought then more rain than it can handle. Placement of the soaker hose that other posters have mentioned, seems to be a key factor in the success of your foundation watering process. OP, that skinny planter under the overhang and behind the larger one might be something that the builder did to keep roots from whatever is in the bed in front of it from growing and making their way into your crawl space. I can't be entirely sure because I'm not there to look at it in person. :P My parents had a bed planter along both sides of the garage which was on slab only, while the rest of the house had a raised foundation (this was in SoCal) and planters along that in front where the master bed/bath was as well as in the back where the other two bedrooms were. When they decided to extend the master bedroom about 6 feet and reducing the sqft of lawn from where the front of the house ended to the sidewalk, they had to add some additional supports that went down into the ground deeper than the ones that were there before and put in some kind of root barrier to keep plants with extensive root systems from eventually causing all of the supports underneath the entire extension from shifting and potential collapse in an earthquake or in the event of significant soil settlement. The neighborhood nearby had houses that sank and some that heaved upwards because the entire area used to be dairy farms. That one was all slab foundations, but whether the house was on a raised foundation or a slab, the possibility of sink or upheaval was a concern because the prior land use was dairy farming. Add to that, earthquake risks and frequent periods of drought, alternating with el nino weather events? We probably could have used some foundation watering ourselves. :P For the particular concerns about the clay soils where you are and the type of foundation you've got, I'd consider using containers, partial sun/partial shade plants, and hand watering with a hose for the narrow planter area underneath the overhang. The wider one in front of it, something with deeper roots but ones that don't grow like crazy in every direction and more of a ground-cover that is low growing/spreads horizontally more than vertically. I'd suggest going to a plant nursery (if you can find one locally that isn't at a big box chain store like Home Depot, Lowes, etc...that would be ideal) and asking them what they'd suggest, and show them photos taken of the areas you intend to plant in on your phone (since most people have cell phones and those tend to have cameras built into them) for reference.

I like your house color as it is; very craftsman-like. I do think the garage doors should be painted so that they do not stand out and call attention to themselves. I think your front porch is lovely and should be where our eyes want to go. I definitely agree with Patricia...white is not a good choice for this home.

Hi Jay To the best of my knowledge, most, if not all Erigeron found in the UK, were intrroduced from the other side of the big pond. We have so many Astereae to pick from, that I can live without another source of wind blown seed, thank you. :-)) I can't say I know anyone who has looked for E. karvinskianus to plant. It just turns up all on it's own. The slightest crack or crevice is all it needs.

Wood doors/drawer fronts -- most Americans like wood, but it's not necessarily the "best". Research it and see how it applies to your situation. Paint, door/drawer front construction, etc., will impact what's "best". Plywood construction -- similar to wood doors/drawer fronts. Research it and see how it applies to your situation. Soft-close hinges -- nice to have but not a "must have". In fact, it's far cheaper to make cabinet doors soft-close after the fact. In our case, they wanted $50/hinge for soft-close; we did it (DIY) for $3/door and it was a quick 5-minute (or less) easy job per door. Full-extension drawers -- I agree! Full-extension drawers allow you to see and access the entire drawer contents without scraping your knuckles! 😄 Soft-close drawers -- a "nice to have" but not a "must have". However, it's not as easy to make drawers soft-close after the fact as soft-close hinges, so if it's important to you, take that into consideration. Note that IKEA has soft-close drawers as standard. Drawer box construction -- dove-tail joinery is often said to be superior to other forms of joins, but I don't know whether that's true in all cases. I second the IKEA comment -- why not consider them? (Unless there aren't any within an hour or two of where you live.)