Make a list of your needs and wants. Think about your kids play space. Ask yourself if you want to grow vegetables. Do some sketches of the yard with thoughts of where you want to place things; it's a great organizing principle for landscape design.
Study the sun and wind patterns. You could place a table at the west side, but it will get lots of afternoon sun, which means dinner time in summer won't be relaxing -- just hot. And wind whistling around a corner will quickly end a fire pit.
Work around a focal point. That may be a sculpture or a stunning plant, a tree, some rocks or a series of shrubs.There will be variations in size, shape, and colors, with tall plants against a building or in the back of a flowerbed, and paths that lead people through the space.
Remember: Patience is the main key to landscape design for beginners. If all of that bare space is too much to look at, and the kids and dogs are playing in mud, rely on temporary solutions -- annuals, fast-growing groundcovers that you don't care about for the long term, - to cover an area while you're figuring out what you want to set here.
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