Ask your family what they would like to see, not designwise, but plant materialwise - color, texture, fragrance. Even ask your mother-in-law. You have provided some architect's dream, with the bold geometric forms, the bold palms and cycads. How about something warm and fuzzy. Something to rub your hands on as you head to the door. Some color and fragrance beyond the white and palm trunks. How about vines to soften the hard edges of the planters, fill them with ground cover plants so you won't see the mulch in a couple years, add bulbs of all seasons to bring cheer, glossy leaves to brighten your day. Bring nature to your entrance area to warm up the arrival of your mother-in-law. How about saving room for a couple chairs and small table, to sit out and prove that people actually live in this piece of marvelous sculpture, and add the warmth of an outdoor room. Spend some time at the library with books about the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. He is the one who introduced the architectural design idea of the outdoor room. Come to think of it, I don't remember ever seeing a garage door in any of the photos. Guess I'll have to take another look.

Forget about a garden edge! If you want simple, low maintenance, that will contrast and highlight your amazing fence, just plant the whole lot in and around the fence with lomandra longifolia. This will complement your eucalypts, provide a little scent from time to time, and you simple run the mower under the edge of the clumps without needing a tacky looking garden edge. Lomandra are tough and once established forget about watering them - the beauty of not having to water so often is, apart from saving water, you won't rot your fence away from dampness. If planting the whole length with lomandra, you can always break it up with an occasional (not too many or you will ruin the effect) other hardy native shrub, or smaller eucalypt such as E.Ptychocarpa. Don't make the common mistake of mixing native bushland shrubs with tropicals and exotics - the end result just looks amateurish and hodge podge.

http://pin.it/rpBnXNS Build something like this for the kids. You could put a sail cloth over the top or plant a creeper vine. Don't rush to plant things, work out a master plan and then do it on steps. On a slope like that you could easily have an above ground pool with decking that would look built in.

don't build under trees, don't plant anything taller than a gutter or close to the building, use simple building shapes with minimal guttering..ie rectangle buildings rather than L shapes, steel clad gable roof rather than hips and valleys and no box gutters or very flat roofs...research gutter and downpipe screens although we've found our regular gutter cleaning service is the best way to keep the roof clean and any problems noticed before they become big problems ...our service uses a giant vacuum hose so there's also no mess and costs only $150 every 6 months and we're surrounded by neighbouring huge deciduous trees... check out yourhome.gov for passive solar design and plan for wheelchair access even if you never need it...our wide doorways, minimal steps, grab rails and tall toilets etc have been a great investment in comfort and look much better when planned in advance rather than added later....best wishes for your retirement home