before & after, front of our house

you guys are probably going to get sick of me posting house updates lol.....but I don't know why, it feels funny just posting this on LIF, it makes me want to share w/ my LIW chicas who aren't on LIF just yet.

K, here's the before.....this was taken when we first saw the house back in '05



since then, we took out the bushes in front, and on the side (to give us a walkway other than the driveway), and added red shutters on the upstairs window. DH installed new Anderson windows in the front too...love them!

here's before the railing went up (we redid the brickwork last summer), don't mind my non-existent landscaping lol.....this is after all the heads of my daffodils came off from the rain the other day



we extended the brickwork from the front of the house for a small patio and put pavers at the top



here's the finished product!!!


here's an upclose of the railing- we chose the more colonial style spindle (sorry its dark, I took it last night when I got home from work!)



if anyone has any ideas for our front 'yard' (I use that term loosely lol).....I don't know if I should just put down sod and plant some small decorative bushes & flowers, or if I should skip the sod and do something else? I need low maintenance for the front, and we get southern exposure, so it gets a lot of sunlight. Any ideas, let me know....thanks!!!