The siding looks pretty good. Could you have it painted? That would be cheaper. A gray-green could look rich with dark navy (nearly black) shutters and door.

I would add the stone you have on your front porch put over the lower foundation wall to make it look more substantial/timeless. It looks like stucco now? Then trim up/thin out the foundation planting.

Once the landscaping is cleaned up, the house will look a lot better.

I like the white and black scheme, but for a warmer look, how about a cream? is soft color and should compliment the stone. is a bit more saturated and I also can see this on your house.

You could even do a soft yellow like this house: The color is thought to be Benjamin Moore's butter. I think the blue and green that Benjamin Moore recommends to go with it would also look good on your shutters and front door. Green for the shutters and blue for the front door - or visa versa with a white trim like Dove White.

I would also replace your windows with more of a traditional divided light window. I like the colonial theme vs. trying to go more contemporary.

I really like the idea of covering the stucco foundation with the stone (if I can find a match). I did not think painting aluminum siding is recommended though, correct? Also, we actually did just clean up the landscaping (all the shrubbery in front of the house): do you suggest we pull it all out?

Following on houaaon's suggestions…keep it white, no shutters, remove the tired old shrubs. Keep it simple and let the different rooflines be evident. Let it be what it is (not a Colonial). Take advantage of the sloping landscape. This type of architecture is having a resurgence in the NE.

My gut feeling is to remove the shutters (which seem flimsy and inauthentic to me) and create a painted trim around the windows (where now is only unsightly aluminum). Once we remove the aluminum siding I like the idea of a cream and white combination, as well as continuing the stone on the stucco foundation (which is not attractive and probably why the previous owner kept all that masking shrubbery, which we already cut back significantly). JudyG: thanks for your photo, which has some similarities to my house although it seems like a brand new construction and has more varied roof lines (offering more contrast to the plain white exterior).

Depends on your budget. Agree that shingles could look nice--really wide ones that almost looked like extra wide lap siding were popular in the early 60s, and wrapped around the corners of the house. A smaller more traditional style, perhaps a staggered square cut, could look nice too.

Old aluminum siding can be painted, and it can be recycled to offset some of the new or restoring the old siding costs. If you are taking it all off, it could be a good opportunity to add a moisture barrier and to insulate, and add wider casing. Depends on how far you want to go. Some awnings might look nice too on the windows over the garage.

Old planbooks can give you some ideas--and they weren't afraid of color! AntiqueHomeStyle.com, Flicker and Aladdin Homes all have some interesting stuff from the late 50's early 60's. The horizontal muntin windows are a classic from that period, BTW. I rather like them, and have one from 1962 in my kitchen.

Colonial is used to describe all sorts of homes. Shutters and a little bit of molding around the door don't make it a Colonial, it just tips its hat that way. Not a big fan of fake shutters but they are common on houses of this period.

It is nicely balanced I think and I would definately play up the interesting front door. Some colors from the stone might work, like taupes and blue grays or maybe even a sort of rusty pumpkin kind of color. Orange or red might look good on the door depending on what you pick, especially colors in the taupe/greige/gray family.

I would check with a nursery before cutting back all the shrubs. Some require gradual pruning to allow light in to regenerate growth, otherwise they can look awful and never grow back right. And I rather like the tall (Rhodedendron?) bushes on the side of the garage--interesting tree-like shapes. Just need some ground cover or something underneath. Lots of potential for landscaping for the slope, maybe with a bit of terracing and lots of groundcover in sweeping patterns, and some new flowering trees to make it feel a bit more approachable.