Are those half moons decorative or actually glass windows?

I would paint the front door black.

It is an actual window with a shade. Ill be removing the shade.

Paint the front door and shutters. Replace lighting and house numbers. Redo the front walkway and landscape alongside it. It really has a pretty face just needs a little makeup and jewelry.

The front stoop is high enough that you really need a banister on the other side of the stairs, and perhaps some strategically-placed pots of topiary, to keep visitors from toppling off the edge. The drama of the peaked roof needs much larger side lights and something decorative to hang in the space above the door- it looks as if someone removed something and forgot to put it back. The shutters are taking away from the modern look of the windows, but if you like them, paint them the same color as the door, which could be very nice black. Use the bushes you already have in the yard as the basis for some planting beds, which always look very professional if you have low, medium and high plants in a variety of textures, with some evergreen things mixed in. Think about improving the view from inside the house as a way to place plant material. Good luck!

I didnt even consider taking the shutters off. You are right they take away from the windows. When painting the front door, do you mean just the door or all the white? I thought about buying a giant light fixture to hang above the door but ive also considered something decorative. What would look best? I have no design bones in my body. I just know it looks naked.

A small thing, but I would paint those 3 little white grates the same color as your brick. They are distracting. If they can't be removed to paint, mask around them and spray paint them with the appropriate paint for plastic or metal.

I searched Houzz for "Large Portico" and "high portico" and got some interesting photos and ideas. I think your pillars may be a bit too small. Perhaps you could have them boxed out to be larger. And I like the first photo with the simple framework covering the portico opening. I think the design problem with yours is that the eye wanders up to the peak inside the portico and has nothing too look at, and nothing to draw the eye down again. I'd put some kind of frame across the portico, even a very simple one like the second photo. It will balance the space. And give the eye something to look at, at the door level. A good size chair on either side of the door would look welcoming and be practical.

Nice house.

I really do believe removing the shutters would make a big positive difference. I would paint the whole door and surround black. I agree with adding the second rail to the left, and painting out those white vent things as just suggested by partim.

I thought the pillars looked small as well. Are there any other materials that would blend well with this brick color rather than the stark white? I really love stacked stone but Im not sure how anything other than the white would work. I love the wood in the portico. It would help bring the eye back down. The handrail on the stairs is temporary. It was a foreclosure and they had to do that to pass code. I considered doing wrought iron hand rails down both sides of the stairs? Is that too outdated?

I think adding the light would give function as well as design.

I would not do a wrought iron railing.

Missing a third color. White is good for trim and windows. Paint shutters and front door black.

Ok so this was done in a very simple program but I cant believe what a difference the black paint makes! Thanks everyone!

Julie- those shutters do not even fit the windows properly. They would look much better off!!

Margo I agree but should I replace them with proper fitting black ones or leave them off completely?

I think that the entrance needs a transom. Or something horizontal across the front, to keep it from looking like a church entrance. Then more substantial lamps and a colorful front door. Lessee...

Add window above door or maybe hang something decorative little kitchen window maybe planter box

oops, forgot the front door. (and forgot to post the above until after I ate dinner -- oops!)

I would leave them off completely!!

Thank you acm for removing the shutters;))

I agree with all said. I would probably remove shutters completely because they are too small to be at all real. A white flower box under the small window. During the summer cascading plants/flowers will be very pretty. Or - water feature or fountain under that window.

I think I will agree with most of the posters, however I will try to cover everything I think your lovely home needs, in my opinion. Changes as in the Lake Barrington Lake House to the high portico, including wide facsia trim, square off the front facsia trim instead of the 'V' shaped ends to your portico roof. Beef up the pillars the same as the Lake Barrington Lake House (include the stone bases of the pillars). Paint the front door including the trim of the door to charcoal. Add wide white handrails to both side of the stairs with straight pickets to the stair rails Add white porch railings to the front on the top of the porch with white railings as done on the side handrails. Make them very straight & plain. Paint the vent covers to blend with your brick. Paint the risers of your stairs to the porch white & the treads and the porch floor charcoal. Paint the ceiling of your porch pale blue. Remove all window shutters as they do not match the style of your home's windows. Add a rather large iron hanging porch light. Hang it based on where the horizontal wood porch trim comes across so the light will be seen.

I had to stop a minute. Sorry I have so many changes. Hang your house numbers in black iron at the center of the horizontal going across the porch. This change may be a questionable one as I'm not sure how it will actually look: Paint the wood trim surrounding the half circles charcoal. Try one & don't interrupt the actual rectangular window casing. This porch front facsia change was the first one that really popped out to me as being needed. Line the sides of the sidewalk with the same color brick as on the house. Do them at right angles to the walkway to beef it up. Remove about four feet of your sod on the outside of this brick trim to use for some plantings. Plant every six feet a clump of medium height grass. Cover the bare ground with fine redwood bark. I would also remove the plantings in front of your house and plant irregularly shaped variegated and green evergreens in their place. I think you need a tree on the right side (which is the lower side) of the front yard. Plant a flowering dogwood if it works in your climate.

I agree about removing the shutters, as shutters--even decorative ones--should follow the rule of scale in that one should be able to see that, if they were utilitarian, they would do their job and cover the entire window. I also agree that your gable entrance is far too large in scale, dwarfing not only the front door but the rest of the house. Unfortunately, it does have a church aspect to it as it is, however, I think if you amplify it even more you could make it a grand entrance. For example, if the entrance inside opens up a great room with perhaps a high bank of windows (and a view) out the back, consider removing the little half circle window and installing a very large window that imitates the shape of the gable. Perhaps even wider side lights flanking the door. Then a large hanging lantern in front of that new large window above the door. Next, the stairs need to be wide and grand with wide brick flanks stair-stepping down, or perhaps to soften the hard angles you might consider wide circular stairs with iron railings. And when you get around to landscaping, choose a lighted walkway and eye-catching specimen plants. Good Luck! Go BIG!

I agree with the wider front door sidelights, and I love adding the landscape lighting. Be sure to add un uplight for your dogwood once it is big enough.

I really think the a fenced in entry would have a huge impact. I agree with you on making the existing columns bigger. I would box them in.

Another thing that would help, especially if you install an overhead light, would be to add trim around the peak so that it doesn't appear so high in relation to the door. I think the rounded shape would help incorporate the rounded windows.

As far as landscaping, I'd keep the evergreens you have. Good size shrubs are expensive and you can use the ones you have as the background for a much wider bed (5 ft plus). Add a variety of evergreens with different colors, and blooming shrubs. I'd stick with a brown mulch rather than red. You have enough red in the brick.

A local nursery can make you a plan if you take a scale drawing to them along with photos. Or around here they will come over and do you a plan for a very reasonable fee. The bed should curve into the new planings along side the exisitng walkway. You can stain (not paint) the exisitng walkway too. Don't try to match the brick, go for a neutral.

You have some great ideas suggested - what a creative bunch!

I second removing the shutters. those really are "shudders" . You do need baluster at your entrance at both sides and at the top. paint those black. I would do the transom as well.

Your existing planting is what we call 'foundation planting" This means the builder or home-owner before you just planted a bunch of random shrubs in an attempt to cover the houses foundation without any real structure or forethought to the size and general appeal to your front garden.

I like the points that people have brought up regarding re-using some of your existing plant material and creating larger beds with a little more curvature to them. However, transplanting can be a difficult task, and established plant material won't always take to a new location, especially if it wasn't done correctly, or wasn't given enough TLC after transplant. Don;t be too upset if some perish in the process.

I would NOT go to a garden center for a design, as they are not well versed with the ins and outs of construction practices, and are motivated by selling you what they have in stock at the nursery for plants and stone. If you don't have the money to hire a landscape designer or design/build contractor, go on Houzz and search for local landscaper built gardens in your climate zone to get inspiration for plant choices and bed shapes.

You will want a combination of heights, leaf textures (broadleaf, evergreen, deciduous) and seasonal interest. Make sure you check the ultimate heights of the trees, or shrubs so they wont eventually block out any windows, or views you want undisturbed.

If you plan on leaving the existing walkway, maybe consider giving it an acid wash to bring back the original colour of the concrete and make it more uniform in colour. You could also consider adding a walkway from the front steps to the garage so you don't always have to walk on the grass to get around the house.

Good luck!

I agree remove the shutters and paint the door a different color.

I would paint the from door trim in black, leaving the door and the sidelights in white

Julie, wow...a wealth of helpful suggestions here! Just wanted to say I agree with the suggestion of adding a window box planter below that high kitchen window. It's an easy fix and will fill in that space nicely. Very nice house!

Wow! I cant believe all the suggestions! Thank you so much!

A cross over the door. It looks like a church.

Rip off that whole gable thingy and replace with something more residential in scale.

I think a large outdoor chandelier that really makes a statement would be the easiest solution along with a couple of benches just outside the door. I'd add either some big pots on either sides of the steps or some interesting flowering shrubs.

What are the dimensions of that front yard of yours? It looks huge!

I have no idea the specific dimensions for the front yard. The entire lot is 3 acres and the house sits right on the road. Thanks again everyone for all the advice!

I agree with filling the portico in some fashion. It is worth the cost of an architect to do it properly because it will change the total look of your house. Good luck!

The 1/2 moon windows and spacing over the door should be covered with stone. You can make the shape different and modernize the look.

All new landscaping hire a landscaper!! Trust me some greenery and some flowers will do wonders!

I agree with many of the comments above. Paint the door and shutters (with the window frame) black or a darker color. Also, have you thought about adding window boxes to those large windows flanking the door?

That brass rail down the steps needs to go!

A big improvement (yes, shutters gone!) would be steps as wide as the front porch in a stone, not brick. This photo is a two story, but the front is similar.
Widen your path also.
If you look closely, if you make your landing into a porch that goes off to the right side of your home, and extend the roof over it on that side, the peak over the door will be more in proportion.

There is too much white.
White paint shouts "look at me".
In the picture Margo posted the underside of the over hang is painted a dark color.
How about painting the underside of the overhang a color blends with the brick?

And the steps do need to be wider and more graceful.
The house across the street from me has a wide porch and skinny steps and it bothers me every time I look at it.

The front door should be the star here, but it s like Cinderella and those two windows are like the ugly step sisters, trying to steal the show, but just embarrassing themselves.

Perhaps a high wide trellis would help bring things into better proportion.
Plus, this photo shows some an additional set of stairs and landing. Your place is on a hill, why not add a retaining wall as here?

Really play up the path with more stairs and landings:

If you're not going to replace the front steps. please do paint them a color different than the body of the house. They sort of disappear into the house color & leave the front door hanging in mid-air. Most disconcerting. Widen the front walkway as suggested, but don't make planting beds along the length of it. Too choppy.

Where do you live? I would suggest having pottery by the front door in a color different than the brick. As far as the grass well that all depends on if you intend to use it often if not then I would chuck and opt for a more earth friendly alternative where you bring all the local wildlife into your garden. You could also entertain the idea of having a tree in the landscape with some areas around it for seating and curved paths that lead to that seating area.

You could also consider consulting with a pro for an hour.

Get a local professional to help you. The proportions of pretty much everything are off.

I though this silhouette was similar and would give you ideas. http://houzz.com/discussions/586528