My immediate first thought is that you should hire a landscape designer for at least an onsite consultation. There are literally scores of excellent designers in the greater Seattle area and I'd be happy to make a few referrals if needed. A good designer will help you to clarify the proposed new layout and make appropriate plant suggestions for a relatively modest hourly fee.

I'd also suggest you review Great Plant Picks. This website is a PNW database of some of the most garden worthy and dependable plants for this area. They are broken down into various listings for various growing conditions, including drought tolerance.

The Puget Sound region is considered to be a recurring summer drought area. We get almost no measurable precipitation from late June/early July through to the end of September and often into October. Selecting native species that are climate adapted and drought tolerant ornamentals makes a great deal of sense. They will need regular deep irrigation until established, however.

Hi GardenGal! Thank you for your advice. TBH, I would LOVE to have a designer give me ideas, however I’m running into a bit of a roadblock in that area…ive actually had four appts with designers & master gardeners but have been ghosted each time. So with HOA now “aware” of the grass problem theyre chomping at the bit for me to solve it asap (as in: within the next month). So i’m here floundering and considering xanax more & more every day.
Oh, i also forgot to mention in my original post, there are 3 very sick azaleas under the Japanese Maple that need to be pulled.

B - feel free to PM with your location details and I will respond with a few names. Depending on your location, I might even be able to give you a hand :-) I am a practicing designer myself although I now take on very few clients in my "retirement".

IMO you have a major drainage issue so you cn't grow proper grass unless the soil drains . Tell the HOA to fix that then you can do whatever they "allow" You have moss growing there so obviuosly too wet for grass. I live in SE BC we have hot summers but grass palnted well does well with a good weekly deep watering. The PNW is a lot wetter than we are so no reason to not have awesome grass but it needs to drain. Usually in new developements grass is put in as sod and often over top of crappy prepared areas to make it look good. Ask exactly what is allowed by the HOA gods then come back here for some real help. IMO grass is never low maintenance so less is much better . here are some great ground covers but you need to know what you can do.

LOL!! There is no drainage issue involved so you can skip over that! Moss grows everywhere here and it does not necessarily correlate to bad drainage. Typically, it is due to a low soil pH, shade, soil compaction and low fertility.

After the summer we had, that lawn looks like all the other lawns in the area that are not treated with daily watering and bushels of fertilizers and weed killers. Reducing the lawn area makes excellent ecological sense in our climate but few, if any, HOA's will allow NO lawn, especially in the front. Your plans look proportionate so come back to me with a measured drawing and we can take it from there!

How can a lawn in Seattle with all that rain look that bad. Perhaps there is a lawn fungus? IMO you need a professional and I'd consider turning the total front into ground cover.

https://apldwa.org/small-backyard-designs-great-groundcovers-for-your-seattle-garden

" How can a lawn in Seattle with all that rain look that bad. "

All what rain? There is a mistaken presumption that it rains here all the time. It doesn't. Average annual rainfall is only 37" - much less than much of the country. And very little tends to fall between June/July and October, with this past summer being one of the driest on record with barely .5" measured over that period.

Unirrigated lawns here in summer often look similar to the OP's. They are not dead, only dormant, and come back to life with cooler, wetter weather. But if that is the current state of the lawn, then there is more going on than a lack of irrigation. As what is there is going to be reduced and replaced, the issue is somewhat moot.

When is this picture from? If recent then it seems odd. Of fall when we had just had a dry summer and September I’m with garden gal.

Hi all, the pic was from last week. As GardenGal mentioned it’s not uncommon to find “burnt”-looking lawns here from July-Oct because a lot of lawn grass species go dormant in the heat & drought-like conditions we have at those times. Our lawn absolutely is facing that issue.
It has, however never been “healthy” due to weeds that would not stay gone AND my husband’s mishap where he put weed killer in the seed-spreader. He set it wide-open while walking super slow. You can actually see some lines where he killed EVERYTHING down to the dirt. smh
My plan HAD been to Dethatch, lime, aerate, amend, then overseed the lawn this past autumn. However i had a serious health setback and we werent able to clean up the yard/lawn before winter started. And that, coupled with the bad state the lawn was in already, was the final nail in the coffin. It’ll be easier to clear out the whole thing & resod.
Believe me, i would love to be able to ground-cover the front yard! I’m partial to clover myself, but no-go per HOA. I also brought up artificial turf since these drought conditions are steadily getting worse & worse while temps rise. But again, no-go per HOA for FRONT yards. Aaaugh!
So all of that is why I’ve brought my original ask to you regarding design & plant options for the yard since we’re reducing the size of the lawn. It also is why I mentioned we need low-maintenance options (because we’re disabled).
There are NO drainage issues in the lawn, moss just grows on almost anything.
Basically everyone, I KNOW the lawn & 3 diseased azaleas are terrible! Thats why we’re pulling them out and starting over lol. I need your help with the design & landscaping of what the NEW version of this yard will be.