amosmcwalker You could start with painting the shutters and flower boxes the same color as your front door, looks to be a gray blue, and add large glazed planters to both side of your garage door in the same color family as doors and shutters and do a multi planting, Better Homes and Gardens Mag has some great suggestions on Multi plantings. Later edge the sidewalk and part of the drive with a very low stone wall. to give a more finished look.

michigammemom I think your home and landscaping are quite attractive. What I notice most is the worn and discolored roof. When you do replace your roof, choose an architectural shingle with more depth of color. Note the tans, and slate grays on the roof of this example that has similar exterior paint colors.

akeane77 Thank you for your suggestions!!

greta1 For a contemporary look you can't go wrong with blacks and whites (espresso and cream). For a pop of color an aubergine or purple with a hint of red would look pretty. I agree that planters in the same color by the garage would unite the space and keep plantings in complementary colors to the pots. Or, you could tie the brick around your house by choosing a similiar color on door and shutters.

garden design online The sidewalk and the stair are focus,should be soft S shape.

tmcorkum I love the "Carlyon-Rydman" House attached above. Beautiful.
I was also thinking a red door too and painting the trim around it the same colour to give it some more weight, painting the shutters black and replacing the light fixtures on the garage with something more substantial. I'll attach a pic, not sure if it's your style but you get the idea. The red is Farrow and Ball Incarnadine 248 but I think any tomato/crimson red would be perfect. Congratulations on your new home!

Dar You have pretty home. I'm thinking that a pergola over the walkway would be nice. Make it as wide as the lights on the ground. Add a bench and hanging plants & make it the same value and hue as the brick or the color of the shutters.

akeane77 Great ideas! I am trying to visualize it all

garden design online The sidewalk and the stair are focus,should be soft S shape.the windows need improve too.here is a visual design but un- render pic:

tmcorkum Here's the red I meant to attach earlier.

akeane77 Wow, what a difference that makes!

akeane77 Wow, what a difference that makes!

akeane77 tmcorkum, I like that color along with the light fixtures, I think they complement each other very well, hadn't thought about those for the outside but I love them

sharleeg that photo above shows it well, a curved walkway and extending that landscape bed would do wonders. If you had budget, you could do a gable and dress up entry door. The comments michi gave about roof spot on, needs a dimensional roof. Stay away from the blues for accents, too dated,, looks 70's, I would choose a beautiful sagey green fpr door, garage door, shutters and window boxes could be a contrast to break it up, a darker shade of that sage or a nice brown that blends with siding and new roof.
The lights on your garage door and too small i feel. Larger ones would be better.
If you are planning to get a new garage door, get one with a nice window..there are so many designs now. that would help a lot too to create interest.
Best of luck to you!

betsyweisberg Your walkway needs its own space, not attached to the driveway. This will help make your entrance grand. I love the suggestions above for shutters and boxes to be the same color and do vibrant color in boxes. Your lighting should extend down your new walkway to street, right now it stops in an awkward place.
Do the front door a color and you are good to go- let me suggest a Williamsburg blue for the door!
Good luck!

sharleeg I do like that red that tmcorkum suggests. I think a red front door and window boxes is enough.. and that shutters and garage should be different.. take a look at BM Historical Collection HC-98 Providence Olive for instance.. sorry, could not attach it. Google it. Works great with beige house and that red would be the nice pop with it. Best of luck! Have fun!

feeny Totally agree with sharleeg's last suggestion and tmcorkum's red. Adding red and olive to the mix, maybe using the olive for the edging along the eaves and around the door on the garage, would look beautiful.

inkwitch I just had my shingle roof replaced with a metal roof. There is a metal color which would look great with your house: antique bronze. I highly recommend a metal roof; do your own research to find out.

coolkitty I would do a dark charcoal/black roof, glossy black front door and window boxes to give a very classy look to the house. I would use larger black carriage house style light fixtures just above the top line of the garage door. There is too much empty space above the garage door so going into that space with your fixtures and extending down into the space below the top of the door will balance it out better. Install a curving brick path (widen what's there now) from the driveway or alongside the driveway and up to the door. Get some healthy green foliage and bright flowers into the window boxes!

cydmckenna HI great house. Personally, I'm not crazy about the shrubs in front, and certainly not the tree in the middle or the bright red mulch. It's a project, but I'd ditch all of it.. that tree in the middle will overpower the house in a year.. just get rid of it and put something brighter, softer and prettier in front, but closer to the house. A row of boxwood would be beautiful.. or if you like flowering plants, depending on your region rhododendron or hydrangeas would be nice. Or you could do some pretty perennials, ferns, tiger lilies.. the possibilities are endless, and a creative touch there will make a world of difference!

Marianjela It's funny how you notice things in pictures, but sometimes miss it in person. I posted a pic of my house on here and never noticed an oddly placed column right in front of a window until someone on here pointed it out. Anyway, the first thing that pops out at me is the door - to me it looks as if it is just floating there.... So I did a google on how to remedy that, and I ran across this house. Doesnt say how to fix it - but coincidentally the house reminded my a lot of yours! But with black shutters as others have mentioned... and added light fixture... Also I like the brown accents. I also notice the gable on this house - there are a ton of ideas out there on dressing up a peak on a gable. Just my two cents worth - and for what it's worth - I love your house!

PS - maybe some trim under the threshold to match the rest of the trim will help to blend the door in and help it to not look like it's off in space...

Marianjela ...and here is a pic of a quick google search of "dressing up gable end vents"

Marianjela One last thing... As coolkitty said above, there is too much blank space above the garage door. You could always add a pergola or window or both to give it some visual interest.

carlycc It's a lovely house. How about a cobbled driveway?

akeane77 The blank space above the garage door does bother me and one of my good firends here also suggested a pergola and a faux window, great ideas!

Joseph I. Mycyk Architects, Inc. The louvers near the ridge about the overhead door suggest venting of the attic space. As we don't know where the garage ceiling joists are, or if the garage ceiling joists are exposed to the garage space, you still may look at placing a window above the garage door with shutters. Proportion and height location of the window is important.

A pergola over a serpetine walkway can be very nice with smart landscaping. It seems you have enought height to have the pergola just below the roof overhang.

A gable over the entry could work, but done incorrectly you could have roof water runoff problems if there is a shallow valley between the gable and the garage roof. This could be the more problematic option.

Of course, all depends on your budget.

Good luck, have fun with it!

sharleeg A short pergola over garage door and a lantern over that would be fantastic to fill in that space! No need for a window.Have fun.

akeane77 Thank you for all the suggestions! Here is what I think I'll end up doing:

1. Paint shutters black
2. Paint door brick red (orange red)
3. Paint trim around windows, front door, window boxes, edges around garage door and around roof over the garage white (off white).
4. heave a small "roof" or pergola over the garage door, not sure how complicated it would be to add a window there...or a faux window.
5. S shapped walkway as suggested by "garden designs online"
6.Would love to have some sort of "gable" over front door, or half of a half pipe shape roof over the front door (not sure how else to describe it!)
7. Replace light fixtures by the garage door, love the suggestion given by tmcorkum
8. Replace garage door with one that has either windows or a design to it
9. remove the tree in the middle of the front windows.
10. Add more colorful flowers to the window boxes!

(9. Tin roof when budget allows - either grey or antique bronze)

Is anyone able to help me see all these ideas utilizing photoshop? I would really appreciate that!

Thank you again, I can't wait to start!

Mint Design I love what you have decided. I would add one thing....depending on where you live...a bougainvillea or climbing rose arching over the pergola a the garage.

akeane77 I love those!

sharleeg good for you! We can't wait to see!

akeane77 Marianjela, I agree and had noticed how my entrance door "floats"! I have no idea how to fix it either... :-)

Mint Design to keep the front door from floating paint the white trim at the bottom of the the same color as the door or the house and if possible add one more brick step so you do not see the siding under the door. If there is not room for another step simply mortar a line of brick facing across the front of the house up to the door. That should visually ground the door and keep it from floating.
so glad you like the arched bougainvillea and roses....check to see if the bougainvillea will live in your zone; if not the roses certainly will.
Would love to see photos as you progress!
Enjoy the process! :)

akeane77 I'm in NC and have seen the boungainvillea's at Lowes so I assume they do well here. I lived in Portugal and my house there had boungainvilleas and it would be great to bring a little taste of it back to this house. I will keep updating the pictures as I go along and hopefully take them on a sunny day as it was rainning when I took these and the house looks even darker :-)

Mint Design NC is pushing it. They like a Mediterranean climate. Not everything they sell at the bog box stores actually lives in the area year-round. Do you see them when you are out and about in local landscaping? Perhaps a little online research will reveal if there are hardy varieties. I do not know of any personally. Are you on the coast? I am looking forward to your photos!

akeane77 I'm not on the coast, I'm in Pinehurst and I have not seen them around much at all but I have seen them. I will look and see if there are any hardy varieties, thanks!

Mint Design Good luck and plesae let me know what you find. They are everywhere in south Florida, LA and San Francisco, but iffy in Sonoma County CA even in areas that do not freeze. If in doubt, go with the climbing rose...It will thrive....and live for at least a generation! :)

bcowake Carriage house garage doors, black wrought iron hardware. If you want more character, add loft door to roof peak which would mimic hay loft door in barn

Legends Lifestyle akeane77 - Your home already has a ton of character, it seem that it just need some updating! Throw some color on that house, new shutters, black, navy blue or maybe a brick red shutter would look fabulous! Adding a new mailbox might bring some more appeal to the house as well! Gas lamps are a little traditional, but whether the lamps are on posts or mounted, it will surely bring some detail to your home! Last, but not least, a cupola might be a stretch, but cupolas help to bring depth and dimension! All these products you can find at www.coolbackyards.com brought to you by Legends Lifestyle! Good luck and we are positive your home will look amazing no matter what you do!