First off, I have to admit that the majority of this work was done by a family friend with a bobcat. I did not want to hand dig this big of a front yard.

I did help in part of the process/all of the design though, so I thought I'd post it!
I bought a 3 bed/2 bath roughly a year ago and the "lawn" was ugly looking and all weeds.

Wanting to switch it to a drought tolerant, more eye-friendly design I saved up the $3000 to have the whole frontyard done in a rock landscape with stepping stones leading up to the front door from the side of the house (can't see it in this picture).

I'm very happy with how it turned out - no more maintenance! Quotes from real landscape companies were 5K-10K, so for 3K all in I feel it was a good deal and adds a good amount of value to the home. The backyard was done at the same time with a similar design for 2K.

Before:

After: