Despite the original posters overly extensive post, with certain questionable content, the central point is still quite vaild. We as a nation spend more money on grass than on any other crop. That by itself should be reason enough. Read up on the history of lawns and you'll find that they were orginally created as a means of demonstrating wealth (aka, I have this big area and I can afford to do nothing with it except grow grass I can't eat) Regarding the comments of junegem13 and zachslc, you might want to read up on the legal history of this movement. As it turns out, most weed laws (ones based on hight, not on noxious weeds) are unconstitutional. Nonetheless, if you are in a city or subdivision and decide to do a wildflower meadow where there is not an reasonable ordinance, then you should notify your neighbors and the city about why you are doing and the legal preceedants. The EPA has all this information. Regarding property values, that was the original complaint neighbors made against one landowner when she converted her lawn into meadow. When they were unable to demonstrate an actual decrease in property values, the city ordinance was ruled unconstitutional. Afterwards, the neighbors decided if they couldn't beat her that they'd join her and replace their own yards with meadows. Property values in that one neighborhood are now some of the highest in the city (Specific names and places, are available if you want them). Time and time again, lawn alternatives done correctly have shown to raise values, not lower them. In Charlottesville, VA local government is working on an ammendment to exclude native meadows from our weed ordinance. Other cities are doing the same very quicky, especially since the weed ordinance as written by many localites constitutes a legal liability to local governments.

'U' are preaching to the choir here...

Roof color is also important. If that's the roof you're keeping, it must be considered as part of the color scheme. The landscape hides your house. You may need to invest in some lower shrubs of low maintenance mixed with perennials. I wouldn't frame the house in white. Either one color for the body, soffit and facia trim, or at least a lighter tone for those trims. White window and door trim is acceptable. If your house were longer, the garage door in a toned down white would be fine. But, since the garage door is 1/4 the house front, I'd paint it the same color as the body or as the facia, soffit trim. I painted this house on Monday. The roof is Desert Tan and the house was originally dark blue with a white garage door. Shudder. It was a big blue box trimmed in white. Now it's Desert Tan roof with Cafe Cream body to match the new entry door. We surrounded the door with a forest green storm door and installed forest green shutters. We did paint the garage door the same as the body, but we separated it from the house with white trim. Michael

Painting your current cabinets is more expensive than you may think. Others can speak to specifics, but I have seen a figure of $7k to $9k mentioned on this forum just to paint cabinets adaquately. If you DIY the cabinets, it requires (apparently) a lot of prep before you even begin painting and you won't get the professional look. So do your research about painting kitchen cabinets before starting. As to the builders' grade kitchen: it has become standard for the builders to offer the absolute basic materials and a sub-par kitchen layout to push the original buyer's into expensive upgrades. I have seen the builders "option" for a "gourmet kitchen" (another whole story) for $25k extra and you still end up with nothing good. All that is done is the consumer ends up throwing away the money on an upgrade that really isn't one. It is better for the builder's bottom line and worse for the consumer. This has been going on for years now. One good thing: it is better to start out with a builder standard grade because when you do decide to upgrade your kitchen, you don't have to feel bad about demolishing the entire kitchen to get to a well planned kitchen. It takes time, effort and money to get a well planned kitchen and you might just decide you want to do the inexpensive improvements first while you save up your funds to do the entire kitchen. For example: paint walls, add a few glass doors, add hardware, change countertops and backsplashes and change out appliances.