Reselect color paint.add a porch.

There are enough trees in the background that it is not the problem with street appeal.

It is not immediately clear, without study, where the entrance is. I think it should be instantly obvious.

Except for the right third, the front yard looks exposed and unsheltered and too much uninteresting roof is showing. At minimum I would add two small bouquet-like trees near the house to remedy both these conditions. Optionally, I would add a tree or two at the street to further frame the view and add a sense of shelter.

My message about getting control of trees before they get control of the owner is ongoing, and here is another example of why. The flowering tree was allowed to branch too wide and low. (It cannot be fun to maintain grass under this tree!) It blocks too much of the house. Though it should have been done long ago, I would still remove the widest and lowest branches/trunks in order to raise the canopy. As well, I would trim the dome portion of the canopy so that it is a more perfect dome instead of being ragged.

may need a design.

I am having trouble seeing your addition because the picture is too big. I can't make out your porch. So I added another shot of the sidewalk I find perplexing. The concrete slab that serves as a "porch" seems difficult to add to. This picture was taken last summer so you can see we need the sidewalk to work on the flower box but I wish guests would not walk by the window as they approach.

Could you post more pictures closer to the house?

Yardvaark - your choice of words " exposed " and "unsheltered" describe much of the home landscaping in Spokane and perfectly says how it feels. Thanks for your comments. Is a bouquet tree another word for small flowering tree? And when you say near the house does that mean near the driveway/sidewalk corner? (agreed -- overgrown! Although it is hard to mow it does hide a very unsightly neighbors yard from view inside the house)

"Bouquet" tree is multi-trunk, small flowering, (12' to 15' ht. or thereabouts.)

Hiding an unsightly neighbor's yard (and the more interesting part of your roof) with a large deformed tree a seems not the way to screen lower level things. I'm sure there is a better way depending on where the things needing screening are located. We can't see any of that.

Some general ideas (I must draw some things out of the way so that others can be seen) ...

emmarene I don't know if there is a way to post multiples but I will post more pix close to house

Emmarene here is the pathetic mailbox bed. This lot is very wide and this bed is on the south end of the yard whereas the magnolia tree is on the far north end of house

Emmarene one more pix closer to house. There is a window well here so watering anything here is a problem but we will be painting the foundation the same color as the house very soon.? Maybe.?

Yardvaark point taken on the overgrown magnolia after seeing your drawing! Thank you for doing that. A picture really is worth 1000 words. I have posted a pix of the neighbors driveway that I mentioned. It's a little better today but probably won't change much in near future. None of the yards in this subdivision have sidewalk/planting strips and very few fenced front yards but a few have kind of low-slung-split-rail with a sidewalk in the middle from the street. More of a room divider than an actual fence. But maybe something like that?

Agree that across the street is an unpleasant view, but think it's not worth making your own property look scraggly. It would be better to screen it with a limited island of shrubbery -- like three pyramidal junipers planted in triangular faction -- located near the street.

Yardvaark junipers are much simpler idea. So appreciate your suggestions.