You are not there yet. You are so far from being there that you did not ask a single question. I would suggest that you do something to get closer to "there" which will then give you specific dilemas and/or choices that you might need advice on for making. As Glenda the Good Witch said to Dorothy, "it is best to start at the beginning and then just follow the yellow brick road". Work from general toward specific. An example would be that you want a patio, then where it should be relative to other activities that exist or you want to exist (like near a door to the kitchen), then how big you want it vs. how much room you have,.... Choosing material is a resulting point not a starting point. It will be a matter of whether you are going to be wearing shoes or barefoot (around a pool? you don't want to pick up loose joint material on wet feet and have it in the pool, you don't want exposed edges that can hurt feet, you don't want something too hot to walk on), it will be cost driven to one degree or another, availability of materials, and finally the capability of your contractor (you in this case I suspect). OZ is a long way away and there are witches, lions, and tigers, and bears, and lets not rule out flying monkies. Surround yourself with good people and ask the right questions, and above all, make the commitment and all will be well. Commitment is often in the form of hiring qualified people. It often requires spending some money. Sometimes it can be done through hard work and determination. It never comes too easy or it is not much of a commitment.

I've never understood why some people love their roses, but think of other thorny plants such as bougainvilla as a completely difficult plant. I find that bougies trained flat against a wall or fence don't require much actual pruning, but do avoid the purple form which is a much more rampant grower more akin to Wisteria or Kiwi vine growth rates. I'm not a fan of single brick bands across such a wide driveway, it is too little detail for the scale. Grasscrete as a driveway material or banding can also be planted out to no-mow ground covers such as Dymondia or Ophiopogon. I would still recommend eliminating that additional concrete around the lawn, and if not fencing to create a courtyard feel, at least some cobination of mounds, screen hedges or raised planters to repeat the long low horizontal lines of the house. The house elevation is just a bit bland, and could really benefit from updated landscape treatment in combination with new driveway treatment. I would understand if this doesn't appeal style wise because it departs from the neighborhood norm, but it would be the approach I'd propose. It just seems like this front space could be greatly improved by designing outside the box.

Oh, I see ... it is bed near the street. I think as long as you don't plant anything tall, or that hangs over, close to the walk, it can work. Though I think it could work either way, with the round patio it has taken on a friendlier feel, to me. The circle seems to have made needing to correlate somewhat with the window, possibly moot. It will be interesting to see what you do with materials. I can tell, you're pouring a lot into this. It will be interesting to see it happen!!!

Dennis - Unless I missed it, you didn't say what direction the front of your house faces, and how much sun it got, that is, if it's sun is obstruction by tall buildings on the other side of the street. The other very, very important thing for you to think about, of which other Houzzers might not be aware is that Southern California goes through extreme water shortages pretty much every single year, and many areas are told to not water their lawn or do it only minimally for parts of the year. That should really inform how you think about landscaping. Admittedly, I do understand if you despise cacti and other succulents. But you might want to seriously think about eschewing live grass in favor of artificial turf. There are marvelous artificial turfs now that would fool anyone, certainly from standing height, and you obviously don't need to water it and think of all the $$ you save in gardener's fees, and none of those those pesky varmints rolling up the sod, either.! You can can still have specifically carved out flower beds, and trees and bushes with planned irrigation for those specific areas. Your area abounds with very experienced landscape architects. You want someone who has an artistic eye, and who knows hardscape and who is very familiar with the plants that do well in your area, and is familiar with the exigencies of life in SoCal and in your microclimate and can speak frankly with you about what you want to get out of your garden and how much work you are willing to put in to it. Do you sit outdoors in the front or the back? Do you want fragrant flowers on a trellis where you sit there or will a fragrance annoy the heck out of you? Will you sit outside in the morning or night, so do you need flowers that bloom in the am or bloom in the evening with colors that will be seen sell in twilight and at night? Do you want an herb garden for cooking? Do you want vegetables? Do you want several rose bushes so you can fill your house with roses, or other flowers so you can always have bouquets? Of course Dig Doug's designs look fantabulous as always, but note that his designs show significant hardscape changes to the front of the house. You might want to think about saving up some money for the hardscape work. If you get rid of the grass and put in artificial turf, you will end up saving a fortune of money on your water bill that you can put toward hardscape. If you have never owned a house before, you would not believe how much the water bill will be, and when you add in watering the lawn, holy moly!