I completely love the twirly bits, and the window trim. It's unique, special and shows the family within has a sort of fun spirit. If you would be more comfortable with a cottage that looks more "regular", then take it off. But please don't! For some color and inspiration, google French provencal fabric images. I can completely see a little black metal bistro table and wood slat back chairs on your porch with a cloth of one of those fabrics. I would paint it a light dusky blue, with white trim and mid-charcoal accents around the windows and the corner pieces on the front porch. Although the yellow with the blue would be quite right too! The front walk looks to be in good condition. You can do a stone overlay on that, letting a small portion of the stones hang over the straight edge, to give it a little more rustic look. It looks like you have a good collection of Queen of the Nile lilies (guessing here). Were they blue on blooming? You can create some slightly larger and curving beds in the front, and transplant some within it. I would add lavender and rosemary in a mix with those. For some grey and texture, put some lambs ears (a perennial) along the outside edge. Check your local growing zone to see what will thrive in your area! Lucky you. What a find!

Consulting a Landscape Architect or designer is going to be time and money well spent. Taking in the location and aspect of the yard. What you and your family want and how you want to use the space for, will help in creating the design. A good landscape designer can be found through you local landscape industry association and will be able to provide a cost estimate to construct the project. Then if you are going to get contractors to quote the work you will be getting quotes based upon the same brief and not random impressions based upon verbal interpretations which can only confuse your decisions. If your going to do this project your self then ask your designer how they would program the works and how to stage construction. Best of luck. Hope to see the finished job !!

Have you already sourced your tiles? I would expect most tile stores could help you find the edging tiles which I think are typically termed 'pencil' tiles for the style you have shown. We used bevelled subway tiles in our DIY ensuite. In hindsight we would have aimed to finish the brick pattern with 1/3 and 2/3 sized tiles (like in your pic 1) rather than full and 1/2 (pic2 and 3) to give a more even edge thickness/profile... Might not suit and we didn't use capping tile (I lost that arguement!) so it is probably more obvious in our bathroom, but just something you might like to consider.

While I like the steel look I always wonder about heat transfer into the soil as I know this is a problem with colorbond raised beds. In summer the soil bakes the plants. Just fine if you have arid plantings but dire if you have a cottage garden. I have a similar dilemna on the north side of my garden. Would love corten but not if it's going to burn everything in the garden bed.