Identify how you want to use the yard. Some examples for a front yard include: somewhere to put stuff you are loading/unloading from car, a meet-and-greet, a place for the kids to bounce balls while you can see them/are washing the car. A place to watch your plants growing. I'd caution you against rebelling against grass for the sake of rebelling against grass. Think of it as negative, open space that happens to be green, and you can always change it in your head to decking or paving/flagstone. The beauty of being a homeowner/DIYer is that you don't always need to have the master plan finished in your head in order to get started. You sound sure of a number of things. Do those. Or at least draw them out. Sometimes step two is more clear from after step one. Experienced people have implemented enough plans to be able to see step 7 from before step 1, but DIYers may need to take it one step at a time. One way to design is to mock up in person. Say, you want to do a low barrier and a courtyard. OK. Put a row or garbage cans where you think the hedge could be, and drag some chairs into the area and sit there. How does it feel? What's missing? Should the hedge move? Do you need shade? Etc. You might have analysis paralysis too. Taking the first step, even if you just go out and plant a tree where you want some shade, can help get you past that too. You can always move it for a year or two if you got the placement wrong. KarinL

Thank you. We lived there just over 20 years before building/moving to our new home 7 years ago, which happens to be in a horse community. Ours uses the 4 board Kentucky fence in a dark stain. I'm not sure what you mean by "new surface under the windows" unless you are talking about the different material used on the addition. The house was antique brick, so it couldn't be matched. The shutters are all original to the house (1956) and were not changed. But we did add shutters to both ends and the back. Do you have any fencing with posts or columns at the street/driveway? What zone do you live in? Do you have a well to water? Would you like to get rid of some of the front grass and have islands of trees? Depending on your zone.

No, the house does not need them. And I'm saying this as someone who loves shutters and would opt to keep them a lot of the time when the pros on here are hollering to take 'em down. I like your window choice. Adding shutters would start clutter up the look.

Molly, landscaping is on the agenda - and yes, absolutely COLOR! Thank you! Pool is next, then kitchen. I'm working in the plants between projects. We've recently taken quite a few giant Sagos out since they've grown too big. I want something for between the windows that will be special. Focal point for sure. It needs to be big enough - but slow growing so it doesn't grow above the roofline. I want it's foilage to fill the space between the windows. Will prob hire a landscape architect.