Garden Redesign

[bdearing.livejournal.com]

I've got a fairly typical lawn over much of my relatively small (but probably big for Somerville) yard. In other areas, the weeds are winning. So, I'm looking for some help. I'm ready to replace the lawn and tear out the weeds and start over. I'd like to replace it all with something that's orderly and attractive, that adds native (or natively happy) plants and/or flowers that can look attractive year round and that will require less weekly maintenance.

The thing is, I don't know much about plants, and I'm not really interested in becoming an expert. I'd prefer to hire someone to offer suggestions for plants and layout, and help to come up with a plan. Has anyone done this and can recommend someone who can help?