My wife and I want to spruce up our front area. We want to do a desert landscaping, but keep as much as possible to reduce costs. We already have ocotillo planted, and it is doing well. Ideas would be appreciated for plants and arrangement.

General comments: Weed abatement first and foremost. Then install your drip irrigation to fit your plan. Lay landscape fabric, and top with rock (after plant installation). Use different sizes and colors to simulate, for example, a dry stream bed. In streams, stones are rounded; more angular stones are used outside the "stream". Possibly add a few larger rocks or small boulders for sculptural accents. If you can sculpt some slight relief into your garden, the gentle hills and valleys will also add interest. With your plants, you'll want a range of heights and shapes to work with, and different leaf sizes and colors. Contrasts make a garden more interesting.

I can't make out the ocotillo in your photos, but that will be one of your larger plants, very tall and spreading.

Here's how:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/52156/how_to_kill_bermuda_gra ss.html

While you are killing the bermuda, take the opportunity to draw up a site plan, evaluate your watering system (or figure out the cost of a new one), and visit some of the exhibition gardens of xeriscape plants.