Landscaping: Use what you have

We've been in the suburbs for just over two years now, and fixing up the yard has been on our to-do list ever since we moved. We did a lot of work last spring (tearing out dead and overgrown plants and shrubs and replacing them with healthy evergreens), but we ran out of money and inspiration when it came to choosing paving stones to separate our plants and the mulch surrounding them from the grass. We went to our local nursery, which we love the idea of (all organic, family-owned) but that seriously falls down in the customer-service department, but didn't see any that we liked. Then we went to Home Depot thinking that they'd have a larger selection, but again -- nothing that suited our taste. We pretty much decided to shelve the project, but then my husband had an idea: Why don't we collect some of the mid-size rocks that are scattered around the yard and use them? We spent about 90 minutes collecting and placing the rocks, with fantastic results (I'll post a picture in the next day or two... it's raining buckets here now). The rocks are small enough that they're unobtrusive, yet large enough to contain the mulch and provide a nice visual separation between the plants and grass. The rocks were free, and now other areas of the yard are more conducive to barefoot play -- bonanza!