Yes pictures of your spot would be the best! I have been loving these gallery walls lately - probably because I don't have super high ceilings to do that in my home... but it sounds like they might be perfect in your spot! And I LOVE this one!! Hope to see pictures of your space soon!

We live 6 blocks from the beach in a small SoCal town and are finally getting around to painting the original exterior from when we first bought our house! Any advice on exterior colors would be appreciated. Going for a laid back, beach style look. Thank you in advance!

As GG48 suggested, wait until early fall to plant, and use an automatic timer with soaker hoses to water during the week. It is difficult enough to get plants established in high summer when you are there, but hoping that a couple of kids will know how often and how much to water is unlikely to be successful. Plants are living things, and without proper care when they are getting established, you won’t be happy with the results and it will be wasted money and effort. Do all the hardscaping such as the walkway, perhaps the driveway, and any painting, roofing or whatever before planting so that new plantings aren’t damaged by excessive foot traffic, machinery and other disturbance that comes with construction. Typically the area effected by construction is rather larger than the final footprint, so for instance adding a front walk may involve digging or workmen walking where you want plants to be eventually. Also, knowing where the drive will be exactly will be important in planning placement of trees and the walkway as well as how deep the entry gardens should be. So be patient and bide your time with planting. I lived in my current house for three years before I could put in foundation plantings while we dealt with 50+ years of deferred maintenance, so you can likely be patient for a few months. If you totally can’t live with the house bare of plants for this season, get a couple of really large planters (1/2 whiskey barrel or larger), fill with potting medium that is fast draining but moisture retentive, and plant flowers such as old fashioned geraniums that can tolerate getting dry for a few days at a a time. Water the heck out of them before leaving at the end of the weekend, and then if needed pay a kid to pour a couple of gallon jugs on each pot during the week. If they die you aren’t out a lot of $$ and you can tuck the pots away until next season. If they are in the way of construction, they can be easily moved. Beverly’s and Deco’s photos are lovely, but not practical for a second home unless you want to pay for plant care. I second the comment that you want easy care plants, not ones that need deadheading and regular watering such as roses and Annabelle or blue hydrangeas. If you want those, you need to hire someone to do regular garden maintenance since nothing advertises that a house is unoccupied for a chunk of each week quite so much as plants drooping from lack of water (the hydrangeas) or needing deadheading of faded flowers (the roses). If you want hydrangeas, especially if this is an area with at least a half day of sun, consider using panicled hydrangeas such as Little Lime or Bobo or Little Quickfire, all of which shouldn’t exceed 5’ and will be happy with far less water than smooth hydrangeas like Annabelle or big leafed hydrangeas like Endless Summer. They will bloom white and then shade to some color of pink as the season progresses. Mine bloom for 3-4 months, depending on variety. To get helpful plant suggestions, you need to share more info. Is this house on the ocean with its tempering influence or is this a beach house on a lake or river? Is the soil sandy or clay or nice loam or ? How much sun does this proposed garden area get?