I did lots of thinking on this and came up with this non-constructive thought. If you were to want to sell you home, you would probably ask some real estate agents for proposals (price, their way of marketing, commission, etc.). Once you determined which one you want to represent you and home, the agent will take some pictures as part of the marketing (mostly online anymore). The agent is looking out for you, but also seeking the sale. If the agent believes that something is not right with the photo taken, then you would have a tendency to listen. A real estate agent is not an artist, nor a landscape person, but a good one will have seen lots of homes and knows what works and what doesn't. Stand at the curb. Take a picture, walk to the left and right several paces and take more pictures. Walk up the drive a bit and take pictures, not just of the house, but the view from the house. What would you want to do if you were thinking about buying your home? Now for some other comments: You have many horizontal lines on the actual house. The windows and doors are rectangle. All of that is very typical. Your yard counters that look a bit, but it also moves the eye in an awkward manner. You need to negate that. In your first photo, it appears that the house is leaning because of all that. I concur on getting rid of all that grows between the current walkway and the house. I concur that you ought to not have a straight line walk to replace it. My suggestion to balance the overall look would be to create a small berm on the left side, about 20' out from the house. Nothing large, but something that would break up that falling away appearance. In the first photo, there is lots of shade coming from the left side, I'll assume that there are some tall trees there. I'm a big promoter of color in the front yard; something that complements the colors of the house. Some might think it trite, but a burning bush on the berm would look good as the leaves are changing color this time of year. Those can be pruned to shape or let it go. I would also include blooming perennials that show different colors throughout the year. Poppies might work, as might some Veronica. There are many, many options for that kind of thing. Jim

Missing still are large chunks of the view that are important to the yard. You are not capturing the problem with steps in the photos. (They look like some kind of stained, textured concrete.) I would not have necessarily added them like that. But they are there so I wouldn't necessarily remove them. If your drive is too steep to walk on comfortably, the steps are probably actually useful. If they need a handrail is better judged on site, as photos can be very misleading about grade. It looks like the grass could stand being fertilized, watered and mowed regularly.

I don't know Okanagan, so it is difficult to name a plant, but what you need is a lawn height groundcover to eat up a lot of the space. A very short groundcover will allow the more typical suburban layout and spatial feel of a lawn without the lawn. Examples are the groundcover junipers - deer no like...unless - and cotoneaster that are woody shrubs. You could also look for something in a creeping flowering perennial or vine suitable to your climate. In your second picture with the tall grasses in bloom I see two low oval shrubs, right front, back left, and a shorter grass. Another option is simply plant a whole lot more of those in bigger drifts to fill the space. Hopefully that is their mature heights by habit. That idea can be used though, fill the space with a limited pallet of very low growing perennial plants organized to taste.

Do you feel comfortable telling us closest big city to where the house is located? We can give you some ideas for landscaping that don't cost the earth (pun intended). Depending on where you are, during planting season (early spring in 4B) there are good deals on the common types of evergreen shrubs. Those would look best across the front of the house, all year. You don't need to get things that are expensive or exotic. "Garden variety" yews (for shade) or Juniper (for sun) is fine and you can find them on sale at the big box stores in early spring. Look closely at the tag to be sure you get something that won't get too large. Before you buy, check how many hours of sun you get where you are planting. Choose shrubs that will be happy with the amount of water and light they will get in that spot. Don't plant them too close together even though they're small. Plant far enough from the house that they will be a foot away from it at maturity (although this will look weird at first). Look at the tag and space them accordingly. Planting too close together is a waste of money and you'll have to move them or prune them later if you do. To me it looks like you need about 7-8 evergreen shrubs, which won't break the bank. When shrubs are small, I plant white sweet alyssum all over as a living ground cover between them. Cheaper than mulch, looks great, and reseeds itself every year. Tiny roots so easy to remove if you want to get rid of it. As the shrubs get larger they will cover it. If you want something taller against the house before the shrubs are mature, cosmos are so pretty. Again, inexpensive and readily available as tiny plants at the garden center in spring. As far as flowers, maybe in front of the shrubs, there are lots of ways to do that economically too. Some of my favourites come up from seed every year (white alyssum, bachelor's buttons, calendula) or are perennials where I have received cuttings from friends. Unless you need more pathyways functionally, I wouldn't add more hardscaping if budget is a concern. As far as edging, some types are a big pain for mowing. My preference is to just take a spade and dig straight down to make a little trough. Re-do it early spring and mid summer. You can mow right up to it. If you like you can use a weed-eater to trim it, or a pair of garden shears. Free and looks good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBgqBC4EIxQ