SFGate

decoenthusiaste I don't know why we're not giving you input - possibly due to the poor quality and lighting of the pic.

Dytecture This is a really open ended discussion. Best thing to do is to come up with an overall scheme for the entire yard and divide them into sections so they are more manageable as far as budget.

Sweet Caroline Garden Design Here's my two cents worth -a doodle of a lawn-less landscape that would compliment your home's architecture.

Sweet Caroline Garden Design P.S. to the above : Kansas is dry so a drought-tolerant landscape without a thirsty lawn is the way to go. Do it in stages - slowly remove all existing grass, a little at a time. Since you have shade you could plant 'Annabelle ' hydrangeas (blooming deciduous shrub ), azaleas ( evergreens ) and ornamental grasses as a project for the first season. The idea of an attached arbor with a tiled patio underneath is more of an expensive project if you're not handy so if you like it you'll need to budget for it in the future

decoenthusiaste Here's xeriscape (low-water, low-maintenance) for a non-desert area.
Lose the Lawn
Great Design plant - September 2012 seattle

Sweet Caroline Garden Design Very pretty decoenthusiaste but those are all sun-loving plants and this garden is shady.

m5askqu5 Thanks for your input. I know the pic is a bit dark. But again- we're painting the house this spring (will make a huge difference!), we planted new grass seed in the fall, so most of the front yard will be grass, it came in nicely last year (what was there) before we planted new. I'm looking for ideas under the main set of windows on the left side of the pic...it's a shaded area. Then (I know the pic is hard to see) in front of the porch swing is a small garden area about 2' wide, along the rest of the front of the house. So...looking to start simple, I don't want to do a huge landscape- simple shrubs/bushes/flowers...all perennials.

m5askqu5 I love the arched arbor idea...