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I love it, too. The only thought I have - besides hoping for more pics this year - is to get something to cascade over some of the railroad ties. I also like the idea of more vibrant colors. I always love purples next to orange. The good old color wheel (not-quite) opposites.

Everything before 'cover with plastic and leave until next summer' would be unnecessary except to reduce the bulk by mowing or weed-wacking, so the plastic lays flat. Cardboard also works and does not need to be removed later, a plan I prefer since you never know what seeds are going to sprout after you remove a smother barrier. This also allows the weed material to decompose and help improve the soil with very little effort on your part. You can cover the cardboard with mulch so it's not ugly and stays in place. When you get a gardening urge next year, install some plants. Shrubs are the easiest to deal with when one doesn't have much time to spend. As long as they're not eventually too big for the spot, most can be a "plant it and forget it" plant that only needs occasional trimming for structure and dead twigs or branches. They will shade the ground around them so weeds are less likely to sprout, and it's easy to add new mulch around them as the old become thin enough to allow weeds to grow, and/or to add a new smother layer if something does creep into the area. Low maintenance and rock garden are not necessarily married. Do you mean a rock mulch? Whatever seeds find their way to that are just as likely to sprout, but harder to pull out, especially tree sprouts. Whatever you don't like, you're right to say it should go. You don't have to know what you want to eventually do to get started wiping the slate clean.

Haley: I'm in year 2 of a similar gardening project and the most important thing I've learned is: Do the Bones First. ie., if you want to put in a path, do that year 1. If you want to replace the fence (something white with some curve would stand out against the angles of the house and be in period) do it year 1. In a sense you're lucky that the sprinkler system will easily cover your yard without having to plan any planting beds, first. Do that year 1. Also year 1, start a nursery bed. Rather than buying 16" shrubs and paying through the ear, get smaller specimans of shrubs and perennials and grow them on this year with the plan to place them Year 2 or 3. This will save you a LOT of digging and moving. You are in the fortuate position to be able to use almost any palette, but I'd stay away from multicolor given the proximity of the house to the corner. "Too much" color variety will look confusing because the eye won't be able to see any one thing. Pick a base color and accent from there. A neat trick is to use complimentary plant forms on adjacent walls to give it continuity, but use different colors of the same plant. The eye won't split it because of the form, but you'll get some "base" variety in coloration. When I saw the South side of the house my thought immediately went to a good, hardy climbing rose. At our house climbing roses are considered "Bones" and therefore can be planted Year 1. :-) Good luck and keep us updated! Martie