The area gets sun, starting from the sidewalk and making it's way up the walkway, from approximately 10:am for most of the day.

I'd like to stick with perennials and not a wild color scheme. The house is sort of a yellowish color with brown trim, Craftsman style. Also, having plants which are easy to care for, low maintenance is important. I don't want to have to deal with splitting them down the road, or any which tend to attract major pests since it'a walkway.

I am thinking of waiting until the weather cools at this point to take advantage of the 1/2 price sales at the garden centers, but am trying to get ideas now.

BTW - I purposely didn't want him to plant these beds for me. While having him do the larger trees/shrubs made sense - doing the smaller things would save me money and give me more of a personal stamp on the house.

In any case, a craftsman style house seems to call for classic, native plants. grasses, shasta daisies, come to mind.

A picture of the walkway would help. What height? how wide is the area? how long?

For low maintenance, plan to edge the beds where they abut the lawn to keep grass out and mulch with an organic (not rock, rubber, etc) mulch that you will renew every year or three, depending on the type and how deep you have it. Wood chips, bark mulch, cocoa bean hulls, pine straw, etc. - you can choose what appeals to you, but put it on thickly enough to discourage weeds. Don't use landscape fabric as it will make things harder in the long run. Actually, if you don't have mulch down now, put some down ASAP so that weeds don't get started now in the bare soil. If you put cardboard or several layers of newspaper under the mulch, it will work even better. You'll be very glad when it comes time to plant that you took this preventive step.

To be perfectly honest, plants aren't static. They grow and get bigger. Most perennials will need some dividing down the road, though some will be quite happy for ten years or more without dividing. When you put in the garden, place plants with their size in 10 or 15 years in mind and fill in the gaps for the first several years with short-lived perennials, annuals, or pots of plants and ornaments that can be moved as your long term plants get larger. That will save you having to remove or move plants as they get larger but keep the garden from looking too empty for the first several years.

Some sunny perennials I have that don't need frequent dividing and are disease free for me:
- Peonies, especially Japanese or single ones. If you get ones that specify sturdy stems from a peony specialist, they won't need staking. Be sure to remove all old foliage in the fall for disease prevention.
- Many sedums
- Thyme, which will crawl around among other plants.
- Veronica 'Georgia Blue' or 'Waterperry' which will also crawl around other plants.
- Clematis, type 3 pruning are easy maintenance - give them a structure such as an obelisk with narrow bars to climb on and cut to the ground in the winter. Don't like dry soil. You may need to mail order from a reputable clematis nursery like Brushwood, Silver Star Vinery, Hummingbird Farm, or Joy Creek.
- Cranberries will grow in normal moisture, acid soil and have shiny everygreen leaves and low vines that wander among other plants, tiny pale pink flowers and large decorative berries that move from pale green to glowing red and persist all winter (if you don't harvest them.)

Some easy smaller shrubs that are low maintenance for me:
- Some of the smaller weigelas have colored foliage as well as flowers
- Deutzia 'Nikko' and 'Chardonnay Pearls' have a short, neat habit, white flowers in spring that cover the bush and CP has chartreusey foliage.
- Low bush blueberries (if acid soil) have small white flowers, berries for you or the birds, and turn red in the fall for a long period.
- There are small forms of Rhododendrons that are small and slow-growing if your soil is acid and doesn't dry out. Use the link below (or the multiparameter search link) to search for height, flower color, hardiness, etc. There is also a search page for azaleas: http://www.rhododendron.org/searchazalea_intro.htm

You might want to wander around areas near you with nice gardens and stop to ask questions about plants if the owners are in the yard. Most gardeners are happy to talk about their plants. Take your camera and if they don't mind, photograph plants you like. Get books out of the library that have labeled photos of gardens and look at the styles. Would they look good with your house in your opinion? If there are garden tours or open gardens in your area, try some of those to get a feel for garden styles and what plants and plant combinations you like. (Here's a link to the Garden Conservancy's Open Days schedule, $5 per garden you visit.
http://www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays/open-days-schedule)

I cut my established plants rather severely in the spring and they look fabulous. I give them a quick trim after blooming so that they come back for a second one later in the season.

I second the peony idea. Very low maintenance there. The single type (rather than the one with the large, dense flowers) are less work since they don't collapse onto your sidewalk after a strong rain.

"low maintenance" is a relative term. Anything you plant there will take some tending unless you hire a gardener.

They are all evergreen.

They require being sheared after they bloom and to be watered in summer and that is it.

Not heavy feeders and never need dividing.