This house is screaming for a front porch. I would add a porch with a low sloped roof, maybe 4/12. Also, add and enlarge those second story windows! If you add a porch you can make the second story symmetrical and your problem will be solved. That is quite an expense, though.

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We do plan on definitely making the 2nd story windows longer, they're already 4 ft wide. Adding more could be difficult as the top story is split half and half between 2 bedrooms so you'd almost have to add 2 more narrow ones per room to make it look right...and it would still be strange with the first floor. I'm all for the deck/porch, but like you said, it's expensive. Any other out of the box ideas? Thanks Kyle and Kristen!

Trisn..that's just not very helpful, but thanks for looking.

As a side note, where did you find that picture?

Paint could fool the eye better than the current shade, but the windows are trouble. Could you eliminate the windows and use skylights in the two rooms? Have you seen "faux" windows used to fool the eye? They would attach wherever you wanted to balance the look and are mirror rather than glass so they reflect the landscape - hopefully it is just trees! It is a difficult problem.

First, get rid of the bushes under the windows and add bushes to fill in the gap on the right side (as I look at the photo). Then add an interesting rail to the front porch and get bigger outdoor lamps which will draw attention to the door and away from the assymetrical windows. Be careful making the second floor windows too big. You don't want it to look like eyeballs staring out. Good luck. I think you have an interesting place!

The monster bushes are gone! They didn't last long when I had to see them every time I tried to look outside. I haven't ever seen faux windows, but feel like that would be a little risky in Maine...most of the houses are pretty traditional here. I will certainly take a look at them. I've also wondered about paint, but haven't spent much time on it. With the horizontal siding below and vertical siding above, would you stay away from high contrasting colors?

Any excuse for lighting and I'm all in. Thanks for the reminder on eyeballs! I've just finished first draft of a CAD model of the house and will play with sizes.

Home Depot has a returns area; check there for supplies. I just discovered Habitat's store & it has tons of items including windows & doors.

For color, I actually like the red on the shake siding. Very rustic, but traditional. Paint the lower portion a medium taupe. Leave doors, windows, white. Paint that access door taupe to help it disappear. I assume that is the side entrance to the house?

Paint it all barn red. So cute! Another idea: a meandering garden / patio / walkway in the front might look good, too.

The band-aid, short-term solution is to get rid of the contrasting red and blue-gray contrast. I believe the two sections should be different, but not as different as they are now. Until you change out the windows and find some way to fill in blank spaces and offset the right side, this is all you can do. I think it'll hold you over.

I'd use one color on the house. Add a small porch. Use accents around doors & windows. What about shutters? Find a picture you love & copy that.

If I had to do a quick and inexpensive fix for the front facade I would add a few more rows of lap siding higher on the lower level. Then add a lattice over the gap between the two windows on the first floor and add climbing plants. It would also help to paint entire house one color.

It seems to me that the main problem is the upstairs window on the right side. It is in a bad location in relation to the front door and if you tried to put in a dormer-ed porch it would only make it worse. I think when you decide to change the windows upstairs you should place the right edge of the new window where the center of the window is now and continue it to the left. Does that make sense? Also you need to check the remodeling codes where you live, some states require that if you install new windows you must bring those windows up to current codes - especially in a bedroom. And remember those codes have nothing to do with you being able to get out the window.

Eliminating the windows would make it worse. Check my house that I am fussing with fr the same reason. This is right after we bought it. We are working on building up the front porch to balance the height of the attached garage.

With your house, maybe continue the original roofline out to make a porch roof. It would have to be a slightly flattened angle to give you the height you need but it would make a lovely outdoor seating area for you in addition to balancing the front better.

It appears that the roof line from the lower level of the house extends out on the sides. I would add that to wrap around the front, it shouldn't be super expensive since it is not very deep and that would define the lower area. I would visually extend the upstairs windows with shutters that are longer than the windows with some type of decorative wood below the existing window to make it appear longer and the same length of the longer shutters. Perhaps a louver look of some kind below the window, maybe someone else has some ideas there. I would use the same color or at least similar color for top and bottom. If you don't like the shutter idea for the upstairs windows perhaps some wide wood trim painted another color to visually enlarge the look of the windows. Please post a photo of whatever you do.

Try this with wooden Columns on sides to give a Grand Look .

Yes, extending the roof line along the front of the house will make a huge difference in the appearance of the front.

Thank you for the comments. I'll play with a few of these ideas in CAD and maybe bounce back in a few days. :)