You have a lot of pavers going on. Maybe take some out make more of a path to stairs. Use remaining pavers for boarder around for planter More on reddit.com

I would nix the grass there entirely. It's shady :) Where are you specifically? Zone 7 just tells us how cold it gets. I'm guessing you're in the Southeast. Is the tree shading the area deciduous or evergreen? Very cute house that you can complement well with a small scale shade garden. Build your retaining wall. You're instincts are right with the azaleas, hosta, and astilbe! Maybe plant one rhody, but you don't want to plant anything that gets bigger than about 5x5. Make a defined path to the side/backyard wide enough to roll a trash can. Maybe edge the path in a the same or similar material to the wall and/or your front walk. If the tree shading this is deciduous, plant A LOT of daffodils in clumps throughout. Maybe mix up a few varieties that bloom at different times (but keep each clump as one variety). More on reddit.com

Step 1: Plant grass. brushes hands Done. More on reddit.com

Professional landscaper here. That's a nice job they did. Very clean and a vast improvement to what was there before. As far as the sod, I always tell my customers after installation to water it twice a day, every day for about 2 weeks so that the roots break through and establish themselves in the soil beneath. 10 to 15 minutes each time should suffice. Then, water like you normally would throughout the year. Of course, don't water if it's still freezing out, wait for the sod to come out of dormancy, beginning of april to mid april. If you haven't done so already, put down some starter fertilizer. The phosphate in it will promote root growth. If you want organic fertilizer, Milorganite is good and cheap, but I use Espoma. It's more expensive but I've gotten better results faster. Nice yard and good luck! More on reddit.com