Here's your house. What kind of budget are you working with? What's your time frame?

I love black shutters/red door. That's the first thing I would have suggested. Other than the shrub, the garage door stands out at me. Since it's at eye level, can you replace it with a "prettier" one? Maybe those carriage house style? Also, I can't really tell from your pic, but what are your steps? Just concrete? Maybe you can do some slate or something. They look like a big black block on my monitor. I would probably get rid of the box shrubs on each side of the driveway and replace with softer/flowery plants. Sorry no green thumb here so no names to offer.
Mariana

Thank you for posting the picture!

We probably don't want to spend more than a couple of thousand and we'll do most of the work ourselves over the next few weekends. But there's no real time limit on it..

I'd replace the storm door with a full-glass one so you can actually see the color of your front door. Maybe also do something with that area to the left of the garage door where there is section of foundation showing. Maybe a tall/climbing plant in a large pot. I agree about the boxy shrubs. Something softer and more "free form" might be prettier. Look at (and I'm not a gardening expert) spireas and/or verbenas, maybe? We live in MA and we have a few of each that just do great year after year. Or how about white hydrangeas!

I wouldn't take them out if they're boxwoods on either side of the driveway; they're very expensive at that size, and they make a great backdrop for flowers. But what I'm seeing are some huge, weird squares at the top of the slope, how do you feel about trimming them to a uniform height? Or are they different plants? Can't really see what's going on near the steps.

I would widen the beds on either side of the trimmed hedges, or at least on the yard side, in a sweeping curve and plant lots of annuals for summer color. From my own experience, this is a good way to figure out what colors and combinations you really like; you can replace them with perennials in years to come. The other shrubs look good from here.

I really like the red shutters, why not just paint the door black instead, kinda turn things on their head, ha. But either way would look fine, IMO.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! To answer some of your comments and questions:

Those big boxy things at the top of the driveway are huge boxwoods, cut into huge squares. SO ugly! I'd like to cut them right back, almost in half, but I wonder if I'll just wind up with gaping holes in the middle that will never recover? I don't mind keeping all of the boxwood, but I prefer a less manicured, boxy cut. Any ideas of how to let them develop a more "natural" look?

You cannot see the stairs because the shrubs are in the way, but they're bluestone.

Prairie, I like red shutters too. Unfortunately, these are original to the house and although you can't tell from the picture, they're very faded and worn looking.

Sueb, I do plan to replace the storm door with a full glass one which hopefully will highlight the freshly painted door. I like your idea about doing something with that area just to the left of the garage door...I'll have to think about that. Unfortunately, the garage door is fairly new so we're stuck with it.

Thanks again everyone. I think you've confirmed that some of the ideas we've got will work. I'll post before and after pictures in a few weeks!

Ellen

I think the boxwoods would look better if they were pruned to a softer, more rounded shape.

Since you don't have a time frame, you can take a couple of seasons to get them into the shape you want.

There are lots of sites about the care and pruning of boxwoods. I found one that says:

Boxwood regenerates well, so reducing the boxwood to the required height is possible to do in one session. The shrubs however will look a mess for a season or two before recovering! Even more drastic is a method that sounds overboard, but has been known to work. The whole shrub is reduced to a height of about two feet. You will probably need a chainsaw to do this as the older stems are tough and thick. New growth will become evident on the bush very quickly, but it will take time for a good form to be assumed. These methods are generally used in an attempt to save old boxwoods which have become very overgrown after decades of growth and improper or no pruning.

You might want to start by rounding off the sharp angles and see how it goes.

Oh, and sorry to be picky, but you said that your house was a ranch. I believe what you have is a split-level.