I would just paint the shingles to match the siding. The shutters will really be too long if you do that though. Since they are faux shutters, maybe you should just remove them. I'd look into removing the cedar shakes and shutters off all the windows and replacing the windows with full length French windows with mullions for a much more up dated look.

He looks a bit big for a puppy... Cute though.

The window box is a good idea, but you would have to replace the shutters.

If you have the money, replacing the windows with bigger ones would be good. If the new ones are more energy efficient, you may be able to get a rebate on them.

Create an entrance path leading to the front door from the long driveway or the street. Several entrance paths in your "Cabin" idea book are very nice and would look nice in your front yard. Create a flower bed around the tree. What climate zone do you live in? Do you want to make changes to the landscape?

The shutters should be the same height as the windows. The width of the new shutters you buy should be approximately the width of half the window width. Can you remove the cedar shingles below the windows? I would remove the shingles, patch it with siding if necessary and paint.

2 large rounded urns under each window. You can toss down some red mulch around the plants. A bistro table with comfortable chairs on the porch. Lose the hedge when you can but it looks like it was put there to keep people from falling off the porch. Maybe a fence or white railing instead. Add some hanging flower/plant baskets. Congrats on the new house and I love that picture with your dog.

Wow - those shingles and shutters are really strange. Absolutely remove them and replace the shutters with ones the correct height.

Your "puppy" is the best exterior feature, and he knows it! My vote goes with shorter shutters and removing the cedar shakes.You could fill in the cedar shake space with the same clapboards as the rest of the house and, after it is painted, the filled in area would blend in. It is not normal to have all the seams in a row for clapboards or vinyl but it would be an added expense to rip out perfectly good boards just to get the seams lined up right. I would remove the hedge in front of the porch as it seems to cut the view of the porch too much. I agree with Pamela Bateman Garden Design to create a curved path from the driveway to the porch/front door . It is hard to tell which door is your entry door without a walkway that leads to it. There are too many straight lines and the area needs some curvy ,geometric shapes here and there to soften the look. If you add window boxes on the 2 short windows on the left, they will elongate the windows a bit without having to replace them. Depending on your gardening zone, I would choose an airy shrub or short tree about 5' or 6' tall ( not higher than the roof eaves) for the area in between the windows, but set it away from the house - at least 6' -and curve the mulched area around it, rather than just a straight narrow gardened space as is there now. The taupe color of the house with the cranberry shutters (right?) is very pretty. Can you paint the front door? It needs a punch of color to set it off more than it is.

I'm wondering what is new"... Hard to tell from pics...were the windows replaced? The porch is bothering me...it looks like the slope blocks your picture window and I would change to square columns, also don't like spacing of post in middle of window....ditch hedge, maybe add railing depending on porch depth.. (Love above pic columns/rail/windows). you maynot be able to change windows, but could add trim to beef up for length...I would have the cedar areas patched to match siding ....my concern with window boxes would be interference with front landscaping?

Once you've painted i would also consider looking at your house pillars. The post are too thin and not to scale. Box them in square with moulding to give your home a more current look.

Thanks for all the great comments, keep them coming!!

Pamela: I live in zone 5, NW PA. I love the idea of a walk way, last summer we tore out the hedges and it made a huge difference, I put 2 white adarondak chairs infront of the window which due to lack of space filled up the walk way and made it akward to get around them,we dont use the front door much but I want it to look welcoming. I kept the mulch bed from the hedges and filled in with annual flowers. I would like to put a paver walkway on the otherside of the mulch bed. When we switched out the mulch color we got too much mulch and were able to put mulch beds around all the trees, I filled them in with hosta's, lambs ears, ajuga, and sweet william for a little color. Im hoping to put a split rail fence along the street in next summer with a continous mulch bed under it, any ideas of plants are welcome.

Nikitasmom: I really like the idea of the urn or potted plants somewhere out front, we already have a fountain and a huge deck with a fire pit off the back of the house, where we spend most of our time.

Susan: the windows are brand new energy star, but I like the idea square columns.

I agree with many others that it would look instantly better without the shutters and the shingles. Fake shutters aren't even giving you any practical benefit. Your dog is great.

Sounds like you have the some of the issues as I do with my house. Good luck ;)

Since you said you were going to upgrade the inside of the house over time, I assume you are planning to stay several years in your new house. If this is correct start by planting any large trees and shrubs that will take time to grow. I live in California so I am not your 'local' plant expert but I can give you a few ideas for plants. I love flowering trees and shrubs so if you have room for a large flowering tree consider Catalpa. People either love or hate this tree because it drops it's spent flowers and seed pods. It grows large and has beautiful tropical looking flowers. Read about it on wikipedia. I am one of the people that love it.
I love to plant for fragrance too. Consider planting Philadelphus coronarius, Syringa, and Viburnum x burkwoodii. I have an old farm house and I wish I could thank the former owner who planted a Philadelphus right outside my kitchen window. I can smell it's wonderful fragrance as I stand in the kitchen doing dishes.
Don't forget to add roses. Seeheirloomroses.com. I like this rose catalog because the roses are grown on their own roots, they rate the roses according to fragrance, and they have a large selection of old and modern roses.

I am also zone 5 PA....I'm assuming you know plants since you are from the area....when you do your walk, the biggest mistake is making it too narrow....it should be wide enough for 2 people to walk side by side...make it generous, you can ad d big pots in summer, or since your porch is narrow you can do the walk so an area is wider and put a chair or bench there since it looks like your front is lovely....also save all those rocks you are undoubtedly digging up and make a few low walls along some of your beds...3 rocks high, larger rocks on top.

You will get a ton of ideas from the three ranch houses a young couple fixed up on Young House Love. Everything you need to know about getting rid of the ugly, ripping out, adding on, and more with ranch houses.

http://www.younghouselove.com/photo-gallery-2/our-current-house/

I'm with the paint-the shakes-the-same-color-as-the-siding. (Makes you wonder: What were they thinking?) And I'm on a take-off-inappropriate-shutters mission today. When you do paint, you can add visual interest to the windows by painting the window trim the same color as a snazzy front door or add window boxes or awnings. Keep in mind to coordinate your next siding color with your roof--lots of folks don't do that. (I can't tell what color your roof is. But if it's, say, brown, just do a Houzz or Google Images search on "painted houses brown roof" or "green house brown roof" and see what works with the roof color. It looks like a mismatch right now.

Pam and Susan upthread have great landscaping suggestions. You can probably save some of those plants, but they should in groupings, not just strung out like that. But have a plan. Your garden center can help you get there.

While the style - steep roof pitch and other circumstances in the pics are not specifically demonstrative of the subject home circumstances, my first though in creating a more appealing appearance would be to create a type of split gable (similar to the pics) over the front door, with larger gable portion extending over the window to the to the right front door. Again, these improvements should match the overall style and main roof pitch of the subject home.

We have to agree with many houzzers on this feed! When it comes to your shutters, we would recommend replacing them with properly fitted shutters. As mentioned, properly fitted shutters should measure out to half the size of the window they are fitting. We would reccomend a Board and Batten style, but it all depends on your design preferences.

Removing the cedar shingles and replacing them with flower boxes will look great, as long as the shutters are properly fitted and have decorative hardware :)

Shutters should never be longer than the window. If you have the means to do so I would replace the cedar with the same shingles of the home to you have a cohesive look to the home in the meantime. I agree with Timberlane Inc. above me, replacing the cedar area with flower/planter boxes will look great and also add a nice appeal to the home. Good luck on your new home and new and exciting projects ahead of you!