Sarah, From another Floridian.....just about everybody's back yard looks like that about now. I work on my yard as if I'm expecting Better Homes and Gardens to stop by and to no avail this time of the year. Most of my plants are brown(hit with cold), I have leaves all over the yard, and just a general appearance of doom. The grass is all brown because it's dormant etc. Your yard has great potential. I keep my fences painted because they will all turn green if I don't. I even painted the back stoop(if you will) and it turned green through the paint before I treated it. That was during a period of alot of rain and humidity. Who can fight the humidity in Florida? I can't wait to see your makeover pictures and I know you guys will have a blast doing it.

p.s. LOL I have a hot tub on the back screened porch but I don't keep water in it