Don't mess too much with a classic home! A new door with sidelights , would be great, but I think it would probably mess with your interior. Just get a traditional colonial front door (wood)with the windows at the top. I think that the problem is not the door itself- there are a couple of adjustments to the exterior that would improve the look tremendously. Did you notice that the red siding of your house continues underneath your front door? It makes it appear to be floating!! A piece of plain white board below the door (cellular pvc looks exactly like wood and does not rot or draw termites) would make it look right. This would also help elongate your entrance, and make the (beautiful) lanterns appear to be higher, as they are just a bit too low. The drop off of land to the left exposes alot of foundation, which is an unnecessary distraction. Add some shrubbery along there. I think that your garage doors are perfect for the house. They go with the style without drawing undue attention to themselves.Don't get gimmicky with them. The side door seems fine You want to be able to find it, but it should not be the star. Your front doorway should be the most attractive feature, by far. Unfortunately, someone got skimpy when it came to the hardscape. The cement stairs are very unattractive, and the pavers are not only cheap looking, but also not placed well. If you invested in a real brick entrance and stairs, with a beautiful walkway to the street, you would be you would be sending out a beautiful welcome. (The walkway should be generous enough for two people to walk abreast.) You could also do bluestone, but stay away from flagstone- the irregular shapes and colors would not work.) Good luck Just be careful not to hitch onto the latest fad- be faithful to the classic look, and use rich looking details.

Charlee, I know what you mean, We moved there in 2000 (job) and lived there for 6 years..all I could think of was where can we move? We were blessed to have the possibility to work from wherever we wanted and when that showed up, we didn't think twice. It's true that I could have never afforded something decent there (800K gets you something small that needs everything replaced and no yard). The overall landscape of the area is boring (just my opinion) and there is really nothing attractive there. I lived in Montreal for one year and I would have gone there if I had the chance,,that is a beautiful city, even though the winter is pretty rough.

This is about where you want to place the emphasis on your front facade. Personally I really dislike when garage doors are more important than your front door. Paint is cheap and I would paint them a color from your brick and leave the barest outline of the white frame just so you can judge the value of their mass and live with it awhile. Is this actually a functioning garage? If this has been re-purposed, maybe you need to think about a change to windows... Your front door is recessed and not inviting. I agree with either the "pop of color" approach or whatever your lightest trim will be. You can paint your door trim the existing trim color, it will start to give you a sense of what a brighter entrance would be like. I have seen some interesting reframing of recessed doors that add wood to the whole recessed area for a larger paintable area and reflects more light in the door alcove. As far as the shutters go, they increase the horizontal emphasis. The house is already very horizontal with the rooflines and upstairs windows. While darkening them would de-emphasize them, painting shutters is a major pain and their vertical dimension doesn't match the windows. I would remove them and see how you like the look for awhile. The downstairs front windows look so clean without them! I do think it could be a clean look to go with a mid-tone neutral that works with the brick for all the trim and two steps darker for the garage doors. It could also be elegant to go very dark on the trim, not necessarily black but something that works with the brick. The entrance needs emphasis so even if you like a dark trim everywhere else, that area needs to be lighter. Both of these would bring out the mid-century modern in a classy way. So paint would be a cheap way to re-assess the balance of facade elements before you spend a bunch on new garage doors. (I agree with whoever mentioned that the roof color is an unknown due to the snow.) Just remove the shutters and paint elements on the front of the house… a small commitment of time and money which will really inform your decisions. Think of it as painting swatches on an interior wall…much cheaper than making whole house mistakes.

I like barn doors if the wall space accommodates. I am no fan of pocket doors. We had one in house we bought separating vanity from toilet & shower. Cursed thing would not stay on its track. When we did major add'n in '83-'84, I had it replaced w/ hinged door. Barn doors weren't popular then, but if they had been, the wall space wouldn't have permitted one. When we reno'd that bath earlier this year, I widened door from 24" to 28", as we're seniors & I wanted access if walking appliances req'd. That wall definitely wouldn't accommodate a 28" pocket door.