Perhaps upgrade walkway to front door and the stone path to garage? Tear out overgrown shrubs. Re plant and mulch garden beds. Replace lamp post. Upgrade planters flanking front door.

Think about installing underground sprinklers and then reseed. Nothing transforms a house than a lush lawn. After these upgrades look at the house with fresh eyes. I envy such a nice porch.

Paint white the panels on either side of door and columns white too... Sorry... After thought.

It would match lamp pole. Your off to a good start with your pots near walkway. Paint front door like a aqua blue or lime green. It will stand out for appeal like a jewel. Bring together in groups the chairs, they look lonely.

Why are your columns painted dark green but the rest of the trim is not? color placement is the problem. Paint your columns white and the sidelights of the door white.

Your brick and roof are brown and red brown, so no white whites. . .soft tan trim will read warm white . if you were willing to paint your brick, the house would have a better look - if not - try bm putnam ivory for trim at the windows and columns and sidelights and around the front door / fascia / eave. http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/putnamivory#ce_s=putnam ivory

If you are willing to paint the brick, paint it bm collingswood, take all the shutters off the house, paint the trim (columns, fascia, windows, doors) a dark white like bm going to the chapel - the columns will look richer with a deeper shade of white . . . consider painting the front door a classic glossy brown black . . . black beauty ? http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/blackbeauty#ce_s=black . . . paint the post in the yard with rustoleum black and replace the older white post fixture with a black lantern fixture . . larger . .

http://www.lightingdirect.com/livex-lighting-2166-mansfield-post-light-with-2-lights/p2069189

http://www.lightingdirect.com/livex-lighting-2165-mansfield-medium-outdoor-wall-sconce-with-2-lights/p2069184

i LIKE THE IVORY. Don't paint brick outside.

What is running along the gutter line on the front of your house? It is visually lowering your roof line. Is it removable? I would lighten up the color used on your trim, maybe a warm ivory. Look for paint colors that have higher light reflectance value. I would look at painting the window trim with a higher LRV than the columns. Take your picture of your house into a good paint store and work with them. They know their business. There are a lot of paint facts people don't consider when choosing a paint.

I would widen your walk way to the same width as your steps to the front door. If that can't be done with re-pouring your concrete (is that your main water turn off to the right of your walkway?) add a border of antique bricks to build out the sidewalk. Run the border on both sides of the sidewalk. Down near the water turn off, plant a flower area on both sides of the walkway. Frame the flower beds with brick.

I would have to agree with the previous post about painting the brick. Unfortunately, the brick on your home dates your home. I would paint it a greige, paint the front door white, paint the columns white and put black louvered shutters on the house. Trim your plants and your house will look taller. No tall plants of any kind in front of this house. Small azaleas and hostas that only get 12 inches high. If you do those inexpensive things I guarantee you your house will look 25% more expensive!

Keep ideas coming. Painting brick is out.

Question to Rev Gardens: So you think bare patches of dirt by the front walk way is as good as they can get? I'm not being combative. Far from it. My interest is just piqued and I want to pick your brain. Could be the angle but I do not see trees by the front of the along the front curb. I could be wrong. Would you recommend a mulch placement next to curb? And I agree turf is expensive but either reseeding yourself or having that blown stuff is far less expensive, is it not? Regular fertilizing and watering would at least improvement lawn in non shady areas. Thanks in advance for your impute. (:

The brick on your ranch-style home is classic and beautiful. Embrace it and work with it, rather than trying to make it look like a house built in 2015. The brick appears to be a mix of tans and browns, and the roof appears to be brown (photos are a bit dark). You could pick up the darker colors and paint all the trim (including the lamp post on the lawn) a grayish brown or you could go lighter with cream or light taupe. Your front door could be a contrasting color. Most paint company websites have tools that allow you to import a photo of your house and experiment with different colors. Also, whenever it's time to replace your roof, you could add a gable over the front door to break up the horizontal lines of the house, if you want to really change the appearance.

Once brick is painted - that's the end. Do NOT try to make your house the current trend or colors for you will never catch up with the tacky styles they are pushing. You have a nice house - just a few simple mistakes were made that upsets the entire works. Landscaping will make a big difference too. Avoid distractions like they put on new houses today - just an excuse for more money and bad design like McMansions.

@miacometlady - no worries. Generally the way a yard gets to look like the OP's does if there's a lot of shade and competition for water from the roots of the mature trees, or (less frequently) if there's a massive, massive standing water problem. My money's on the first scenario. Look at how thin and leggy the plants are in front of the house, especially the right corner. Probably pretty shaded.

So to your question re: expense - yes, you can throw down a little topdress and seed every spring for not a lot of money. And then you can get excited when it starts coming in, then *pop* the trees leaf out and after a few months you watch your grass get thinner and thinner and then by winter you're back where you started. Lather, rinse, repeat. It's what my dad did with our shaded yard my whole childhood, every year. We did a job a couple of years ago where there was this slim crescent of yard that sure looked like it got enough sun, so I stripped out all the old and laid fresh, beautiful sod. One year later you'd never know it had been new a few months prior.

The attached pic is a similar situation, the grass was just crazy thin in a lot of places so we cut in new beds. The result is grass that's less of a fight to keep in there, and I love the feeling of movement from the now ribbon of grass. Does that make sense?

I like ranch homes and I agree with EVERYTHING derk5 said so won't repeat :). That is a very neutral brick for its time so work with it. Painting all the trim will really lighten things up, while highlighting the various shades of the brick. If you don't want all light beige/tan, you could do the shutters in a slightly darker shade, but still light enough to make a showing against the brick. Also, if your porch furniture is new, disregard this, but if you ever have plans to replace it, go with a lighter (beige) resin/wicker. I am speaking from experience - I put dark chocolate brown faux wicker on a dark back porch and it gets lost.

Work on your landscaping! I would definitely take out the two large shrubs on the far left side blocking the windows. The one on the far right side is fine.

Does the sidewalk need to go to the front street/road? It would be so pretty if it came out and curved into the walk-path from the driveway.

IN a nutshell - lighter trim and landscaping and anything you can do to improve the concrete work.

Fail to mention house is in Florida and there is a large choice of grass....we do have three 75 to 100 ft oak trees to the left of the house...thinking of palm trees in landscape design......I would like to know what paint stores has web sites where we could play with colors.

Name brand paints such as Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, and Valspar all have color visualizer tools on their websites. Have fun experimenting with colors.

Here are some rough renditions of different colors on your house trim: brown, taupe, and a mix of ivory and brown.

even if you are in florida, palm trees are wrong for this house . . . think southern plantation plantings . . save the palms for the backyard . .

Get some kilz and some cream or ivory paint and repaint the columns.

Once that is done you will have a better idea of what comes next.

Just lightening up those columns will make you feel so light and happy. Just like that feeling of relief and happiness back in college, or high school, when you finished your last final of the semester. Ahh...

If you are on a roll, then use the same cream or ivory to paint the side lights.

( The green tape works best for me, just sayin. )

For the shutters perhaps a color that will tie into the roof color? The roof is a big part of the house and people sometimes try to ignore it. Ignoring it does not work, you have to embrace it and bring it into the house's color family.

How about a green black for the lamp post? You know, almost black, but with a bit more depth?

The front door color will be the final touch and it may take a while to make that color decision.

The front door color can both look wonderful and be an expression of your personality, but you must choose wisely. That is going to be the fun part, like the sparkly sugar on Christmas cookies, sprinkles on ice cream and buying new sandals for a cruise. :)

As for lawns, grass is overrated and ground covers are your friend. Ground covers will grow in the shade, cover the dirt and maybe even look pretty.

Well, green and better than dirt anyway.

Not many plants are brave enough to be willing to grow in the hot dry shade under our southern oaks. We want a plant that sissy gardeners might whine about and call invasive. The soil under big oaks is like a desert and it is going to take a John Wayne of a ground cover to take it on.

Oh, and the walkway. Power wash it and call it good. When you win the lottery get a stamped concrete walk tinted to compliment the house. Or not.

Biggest bang for your buck with colors: If the green on the shutters is solid, you could not only get away with, but have a very nice look if you leave the shutters alone, paint door black, and paint the columns and sidelights a tan or light tan, as mentioned above. The suggested black, beefier light and the post in black. This would look classic; a darker tan would give just a bit of panache. Doing the house first, may give you new perspective for the other curb appeal projects.

Oops, tho'. I forgot the trim and windows. I would figure they would be the same color as the columns. And maybe someone else could mention if the side lights should be the relative lighter color or should match the door.

Sidelights must match the white trim color and not take away from the door. Everyone makes this mistake.

There are a lot of vertical lines going on with columns and the shutters competing and confusing the eye. For a more modern look consider removing the shutters to allow the columns to stand out. This will reveal more of those lovely bricks. Agree with the colour suggestions above to paint in a tone that complements your brick. Please you have ruled out replicating 2015 style by painting or rendering brick, as it will become a maintenance issue in the future. Landscaping will make the biggest impact as already discussed, needs larger beds and plantings that draw you along the path. Good luck with your choices.
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