They arrived in town on Saturday morning and after they settled in we went outside to assess the situation, discuss our options (based on the way the house faces, the sun/shade exposure, the grade of the ground etc.), make notes and so on. After we had a game plan we headed out to a few local nursery shops.
We piled flowers and plants into the back of my car, got some mulch and a new pot for the front porch and made our way back to the house to begin the dirt-y work. ha! It took us, in total, about 4 hours (including removal of old shrubbery, ground prep, shopping, planting, clean up, dumping).
Front:

Combination of Mums, Impatients and Calanbais.

potted Geranium on newly transformed pot stand

Back:

combination of Green Potato vine (which will fill in as ground cover), Caladiums and Gardenias.

We are pleased!