You have created a garden with nice plants but they do not compliment your home.
When you drive up to a home the focal point should be the entrance. The planting should draw you to the front door. Welcome you to come in. In pictures that you posted there are some large plants growing, (sort of hiding) the front door. Maybe other photos whould prove me wrong.

My 2 Cents -- Mike

What is that shrub that is growing through that poor Japanese maple? First I would take that one out totally, then prune up that beautiful (weeping?) Japanese maple up, I've notice around here that people tend to leave them so full you can't see the wonderful trunk and branches that are a big part of the maples. If that were my front I'd go for a Japanese garden, a few boulders, take out the shrub and trees closest to the house, and trim up the shrub on the right hand side to show some of the trunk. Of course I could change my mind one you post the finished photo's, it's hard to tell how it is going to look from the painted in plants.

Kendal

In the last picture (which is actually the "before" photo -- makes sense, right?) that's about 5 rose bushes leaning out from under the japanese maple (the original owner planted them all without regard to future size). In the "after" photo (the first one, of course) you can see that I've inked out the roses because they're being moved into the back yard.

I've considered trimming up the weeping maples (we have two) for effect, but we have an enormous mature (upright) green japanese maple on the corner of the lot that shows the typical branch structure beautifully, and to be honest, I love the big red fluffball effect that the weeping ones give.

Though I understand what you're saying about simplifying, I'm not a fan of Japanese gardens. The inside of my house is extremely minimalist, but I love riotous plantings. I go inside for serenity, I go outside for a burst of energy. Besides which, most of the yards around here are very understated; I want my yard to be the wacky alternative. :)

Ahh, yea Japanese gardens are not for everyone. I don't even go for them, for myself anyway. I have a nice sized weeping JP, so I've planted one on the opposite side of it, and am adding some rock, a lot more then a JP garden would, also added some conifers. I don't follow a lot of rules, I too like to be different and am always adding different stuff. I just planted some bamboo, in the same area as my Austrian Pine, so who knows what the front will look like in a few years (-:

Kendal

I like the "riot of color" effect myself. Sunset magazine has some this month that layer color & texture kind of like your plan.

Any pics of progress?

Well, once I got the front yard weed-free and stable, I moved to the back (I'm installing raised beds for an edible garden and ripping out, transplanting and/or replacing everything in the existing "perennial border"). My plans for the front have not changed, but it quickly became clear once I got as far as I did in front that it was no longer the glaring issue in this yard.

I don't have any new photos, but the changes that I've made since the first photo are: rose bushes moved to backyard; all the following planted: irises, eschscholzia californica, canna, gladioli, linum perenne, nigella damascena, lillies, penstemon x mexicale. Seeds started: sutherlandia frutescens, liatris, verbena, salvia. The fescue, sedum and lavender were already there when I took the first picture.

Nothing new has achieved any real size yet, so I'm not anxious to take photos at this point. It will probably be another year before everything is in place (and that includes everything I've changed my mind about 8 times already). :-)