I'm not the best with decorating but i just wanted to say I think it's a very nice looking boxy exterior!! Some nice landscaping would spuce it up a bit. Hopefully someone with some photoshop skill can help.

The brick part is very nice. Is the siding a paintable material? A different color there would change the appearance a lot. I'm not that good at figuring out solutions, but here's what occurs to me.

Flower boxes under the windows would really dress up the front of the house, adding color and interest. This would have a particularly big impact on the area over the small garage door, where the space seems a little empty. In winter you could hang a big wreath in that spot.

Double garage doors are always a challenge, they're just boxy by nature. The only things I can think of are painting or replacing them with carriage house type doors.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of input here. Good luck!

Oceanna had a picture of faux-wood painting on regular garage doors. Maybe that would work. I like your house. Looks like it really just needs some landscaping and maybe something pretty in pavers or stone instead of the cement walkway/stairs to your front door.

As far as the landscaping goes - make your lawn area have curved lines instead of straight. The beds against the foundation are curved. I would extend that look all along your driveway and sidewalk by removing some lawn and putting in curved garden beds. The plant material should be things that can be left to grow naturally without any shearing or pruning into "boxes" or "meatballs".

eggnddart,
It is not a paintable siding. But good thought. I would love to see the faux-wood doors from Oceanna. I could add some hinges to the fiberglass door to assist with the wooden look.
Roguevalley, that is a great idea. I would love to get rid of as much grass as possible. Since spring is just starting to happen here in the Mid-West, you can not see that we have day lillies that border both sides of the driveway, do you think that we should extend that to side walk?

alicialeo, you could put more daylillies into your design, but I think that you need some more plants in your borders that will stay green year round, or at least give you something to look at in the cold months.

It might look a lot like the other houses on your street, but it is a nice looking house. I think more extensive landscaping would look good. Maybe someone can photoshop some shutters on, I think shutters can add a lot of style. I like your front door.

I think a darker color on the garage doors would do a lot to ground the house and break up the boxiness, which I think is currently resulting from the upper siding and garage doors being too close in color. I could see a medium charcoal gray or even soft black to give it weight on the ground level, and also to blend with your roof.

Also as said by someone upthread, if you curve and expand the gardens along the driveway, that will break up some of the linear lines. Maybe add a little stone or paver walkway near the house, thru the driveway garden, because the kids are going to cut across it anyway.

I notice you have a nice boulevard on the street side of the sidewalk. I've always found it difficult to keep that grass looking good, so I put in a full width, colorful perrenial boulevard garden instead. It looks great and complements the house. I could see that working well with your house. Very nice house, by the way.

Thanks for all the great suggestions.....everyone. It was very helpful. I am going to kick it all around and will get started on a few projects just as soon as the Chicago weather breaks. Please keep sending in your ideas.
Thanks,
Alicia

I agree with the previous posters. The faux wood garage doors would look nice. I LOVE your front door, very classy! I notice you have 2 large urns you could place on the driveway near the garage doors to add depth and color, I'd use black urns with bright flower colors if you keep the doors, taupe or white if you change them.
Same goes for widening your flower area along the driveway and give it some curve. You could add something that stays green in the winter since you get snow in Chicago. Try adding something between your daylilies, every 2nd one put in a shrub that has great fall color and summer flowers to compliment the color of the daylilies : )
You could add a mounded & curved bed to the left (in the open grass space) with a taller flowering tree/shrub and some perennials that flower at different stages.
A dogwood or ninebark in the corner near the front window and entrance would look nice since they have nice winter color, great summer green and pretty fall leaves : ) Does the tree at the end corner have flowers, berries or interesting leaves? It seems to have some good height. Do you like clematis? That would look nice on that corner too, both sides.
Your house and yard are great! A bit of curves and color is all it should take.

I think your house is gorgeous. All it needs is some nice landscaping, which I'm hopeless at. The garage doors may be nice in a different color or wood-stained as mentioned above, but they do coordinate well with the trim and brick.