Here is a better photo (with the old porch)

What a beautiful home. I really think you should paint the porch white, or it will always look somewhat unfinished. You might want to put the boxwoods closer to the foundation so they will fill in that spot (eventually). Perennials and roses would be nice additions, but do put in a couple of evergreens so it's lower maintenance. Hydrangeas would be great too.

Thank you hatetoshop; I actually have some hydrangeas on the property that never did well due to not enough sun. This house is blanketed by trees so 80% shade and 20% sun - right in front next to the porch

The cedar will eventually turn gray, but I think your house calls for it to be white. My hydrangeas do well in shade, but usually they tend to do better on the north side of a home for some reason.

you are welcome, its going to look great!
www.luminosodesign.com

Well I decided to bring in a little help and have a landscape firm coming tomorrow for some ideas; I've made a list of "mini" projects that I would like to do in phases due to overall cost. One last question for the houzz team. I have already built some retaining walls along the driveway and part of the house in stock materials from your home improvement store. they are a red/gray mix. Do you think it would be too much to carry that throughout the garden spaces and tie it together? While I love the look of flagstone and might be able to get my hands on some, I think trying to redo the walls and build edging around the beds would be too much at this point. I agree it would probably look so great but ripping it out would be costly to start over.

Now if I win the lottery this weekend..... that's another story! :-)

Thanks!

Hello Everyone - Update on my front porch and landscaping project. I recently was part of a demolition sale of a home where I nabbed some beautiful flagstone and landscaping rock. I also dug out some perreniels. After hauling nearly 4+ tons of stone to my house, a couple of the projects are finished and the spring budget will take care of the rest. Here are a couple of updated photos. I plan to paint the porch in the spring. Oh, I also had my carpenter (who built the porch) build two custom matching window boxes which I look forward to planting in the spring.

nice work and nice home.