I don't think an elaborate pergola, like your inspiration pic, would fit your home very well. A portico might be challenging, and look off balance, with your front door so near your garage.

I think I'd rip out the shrubs, and expand the front stoop over, under the large window, to make a bit of a porch. Or, put in a small patio with pavers, brick or just concrete in that same spot. You could have a couple of chairs, some flower pots, etc. Landscaping could make a big difference.

It all depends on your budget-- and I wouldn't want to replace a near-new roof either. Making big changes to the facade will involve the roof, so maybe it would be better to wait and do it all at once.

Thanks, jlc. I agree; those shrubs have got to go! And yes, we are strongly considering putting a little patio with either pavers or flagstone in the area under the big window. What do you think about adding steps down to it on the side of the stoop? Any landscaping suggestions?

I am no professional, but I would extend the stoop to the left to encompass the long window. Make it the same level as the stoop. Put a cute bench there with some pots and lanterns or a few rockers. Make it look like a porch. Make it long enough so down the road you could add the pergola or a portico with a leg coming down to the concrete just to the left of the long window. The entry plus hat window is a natural unit.

For landscaping I would put something large and vertical (like a holly or boxwood) at the end of the new porch to fill that white space and separate the porch from the rest of the house. It would also break up length of the house. Put that exact same shrub in the corner of the house to mirror it around the two windows to create symmetry. Fill between with lower shrubs. Maybe a climbing rose between the two small windows.

Put some low evergreens in front of the new porch, high enough so it's not a cliff but low enough not to block the window or crowd the porch. Maybe azaleas?

Thank you, hh. I like the idea of extending the stoop and your suggestions for landscaping. I have a couple of worries though. 1. I'm not sure I've ever seen a raised porch without some kind of roof/cover over it. You don't think that would look weird? 2. How much is my crotchety Amish contractor's crotchety brother, the concrete guy, going to charge me for this? I can't remember if we paid him $1500 or $3500 last year to tear down and re-pour the stoop and a small walkway. I've only got $10K - $12K to do it all, the siding, trim, gutters, a new garage door and the structural problems with the garage itself (a wonky door opening and a new beam to span its interior). The guy works pretty cheap if you feed him, and I think he said the beam part is only a couple of thousand. Still, it all adds up. Sigh. I remember paying $15K for our whole first house!

I'm thinking that a pergola would not work with your 50s ranch. I think you can get what you want with some landscaping and hardscaping.

At our old 50s ranch, the steps from the front door were concrete and in an L shape so you could step out straight ahead, or turn and step down to the side. There was a large concrete pad with high hedges in front. We got rid of the concrete pad, added a planted bed near the building and then in front of that, added a slate patio. We then had a gently curved planting bed which went from the drive, around the sidewalk, in front of the patio and all the way across the front of the house. We put taller plantings where the wall was blank, between the windows. It created a nice front "adult" terrace which was great for relaxing in the summer as it was on the east side of the house and much cooler. It had a crab apple tree in front that was large like an umbrella which provided nice shade.

Hmm, yes the concrete can get pricey. And I understand your worry about the raised uncovered porch, that was why I suggested the azaleas to mask that. How about skipping the concrete, but starting the landscaping on the left side to give it a head start? I'd rip out all of the overshaped evergreens in front. They are not natural shapes. Then put in the two vertical shrubs to flank the left windows, and the infill between. Then put something like knockout roses that grow fast under the long window to fill that space for 1-2 years until you can build a porch for that area. This would give your landscaping a head start until you have funds for the structure. Or you may decide to never build the porch and it still looks right because the front is delineated properly with shrubs. Regardless of the structure plans, you need shrubs to break up the length of the front.

For the well pump, we have one too, and I love the simple metal pole and handle - a landscape designer told me it looks great from a bygone era and to not hide it. She even told me to put a little stone / mulch surround around it :). I would remove the faux mini well and embrace the pump.

I really like that beautiful terrace idea - it would give you some presence to the front, and you could incorporate the pump so you don't have to mow. And you wouldn't need a porch. I would end it at the end of the kind window, then do the large shrub to fill the wall gap like suggested earlier. I think you could go with either the terrace or porch idea. Just something to tie the window and stoop together.

I saw a simple 50s ranch like yours where the owners replaced the picture window with French doors and did the entry door in a similar style. It was beautiful. This is a gussied up example, a bit too formal for you home, but maybe you get the idea. The pergola could be extended over to the entry:

Maybe simple sliders without the muntins and sidelights would look better:

A patio/terrace under the window but extended out so its just not a narrow rectangle up against the house. Wraparound steps might look nice so coming out the front door you can either head to the patio or the driveway. And there would be enough room for flower pots making the entrance more welcoming. I would also bring the the landscaping forward starting in front of the "well" and meandering/curving back to the left corner of the house. This will add depth to the house and not make it look so flat and angular. Plantings will disguise the well.

I am probably spending all your money right now, but I could really picture a small front porch instead of a pergola, which would also help draw attention, roofwise, to the front door and visually bring it out in front of the garage.

We're in a similar boat with a fixer upper and I can so relate to what you are experiencing, but don't minimize what you've done so far! That is a lot of work! I don't have any suggestions but had to laugh at your well question because we've been in fix mode now for 9 years now and still have the original creative piece used to cover our well, its ok, you can laugh with me! See that rusty old milk can??? Can I use your well when you're done with it? LOL

Here is a link to a This Old House before and virtual after on what they call a 'cookie cutter ranch'. It may be much more than you want to do, but it may give you some ideas. http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20612512,00.html

They make fake boulder covers for such things; I'm going to be looking into them when I get to landscaping my well area. If you make a bed there and include small shrubs, some smaller real rocks, etc. you can make it look very nice.

The well on the well pump is just brilliant! Doesn't it make you laugh every day? I would be sorely tempted to replace it with a slightly more substantial version. Cutesy little wells in the front yard are totally appropriate for a home of that era.

Also visit the landscaping forum. They're grouchy and will demand many more photos, but they can be pretty good.

Just want to suggest that whatever you do with the landscaping, it's important to get rid of the straight-line look of the shrubs. Making it a curved shape is just so much more pleasing to the eye.

Off topic....what do you mean by the " well in the yard"? I have lived in homes with wells, but there was never anything to see outside in the yard?

Annie, Your terrace idea is not only really pretty, it seems actually doable on my lot! I wish I had your flowering crabtree though.

hh, What? You don't like my giant green pillow bushes? Haha. I can't wait to get rid of them. We had shrub roses at our old house, kind of like knockouts but shorter. I really liked them and had already been thinking about using the knockouts. Any suggestions for vertical shrubs? Also, I think I could deal with a simple pipe and handle well. Ours is a fat black tube with cap on the top. Yuck.

awm, That french door idea is so cool. Unfortunately, I think it's also out of our reach budget-wise for now but a girl can dream, right?

joanie, I love the idea of a wide curving bed but I worry about being able to fill it with plants that I can't kill. Everyone else in my family was born with a green thumb. I got the only brown one.

robo, My husband has a photo a lot like the one you posted filed away for someday. From what we've been told, we can't really tie in a porch without reroofing, so ... sigh. It is pretty though.

lukki, LOL. What I can't understand is why it has to be in the front yard? We've got an acre of land on a peninsula in the middle of a lake. They couldn't find water anywhere else?

My3 dogs, It's more than we can do right now but that doesn't mean I won't do it someday. I'm saving this one. Thanks!

grama, That is genius! The funny thing is, I actually have a fake rock just like that, but at work. We use it as part of the set for a play we put on in elementary schools. I'll have to look back in the records to see if I can find who made it. It's remarkably realistic. Just about every time we do a show some little kid asks if it's real. They're amazed when I show them I can lift it over my head, then they laugh when I show them it's hollow.

fori, That well DOES make me laugh sometimes. I am just about over the joke now though. So the landscapers are grouchy, huh? Thanks for the warning!

jab, I agree. Especially on a house like this one. It definitely needs some curves. Thanks!

grapefruit, I'm a city girl so don't expect much in the way of explanation. It's a big fat black pipe with a cap on it, about 18" tall. The well is under there. When we moved in we had to "chlorinate the well" by pouring bleach in it. That's where we poured it. Geeze, I HOPE that's the well. If not, who knows what I chlorinated?

Darcy, thank you for your reply! I live in a rural area where many people have wells, and I have never heard of a pipe like that! Our wells are completely covered over with only a pump inside the house!

For folks who have sand mound septic systems there is a pipe that sticks out of the ground. It is amazing what I don't know!

I am enjoying all of the ideas for your house. It will look great!

well that sounds FABULOUS! I bet your views are amazing!!! In our case anyways, if you have a septic tank, which we do, the tank and field has to be at least 50 feet away from the well. We have about 3/4 of an acre, and they still put the well right smack in the front and the septic right smack behind the house. I agree, maybe they could have spaced it out a tad better.

I did google "pergola ranch" and found some nice photos of ranches with pergolas on the front. This one looks kind of cute to me. In a lakefront community (at least around here) you see people getting more cutesy and creative with the architecture, which I appreciate.

Before

After

All the cottages we've looked at have septic in front, well in back or vice versa. If it's not a fake wishing well around here, it's a lighthouse or maybe a windmill.

Here's another This Old House feature, on adding a pergola to a ranch.

You can see they replaced and made larger to the two left hand windows. I actually think that could be an option for you without breaking the bank - extending them down toward the ground (making them taller) would be cheaper than making them wider and would make the rooms they look onto more pleasant as well. I'm trying to convince my husband to do this in our home...so far no joy.

You might look into shortening the "riser" on the well. I don't know that it's required to stick up so high, ours doesn't. That would give you some different options for hiding it.

I was thinking what OP could do about the tiny windows, but in the above picture This Old House just put a window box under and it is so cute. With a brown thumb, you could put artificial flowers in...just remember to take out the daffodils when September rolls around lol! But you could also do easy-care plants. They will have to be watered, though; they don't survive dry spells as well as in-ground plants do.

In front, do a curving bed of perennials, natives, bulbs, and/or ornamental grasses so all you have to do is cut them down when the time comes.

bpathome, thanks for noticing that. I thought they made the windows bigger but they totally didn't! my mistake!

Wow, that looks amazing. Nice work ML.

I love what magdalena did!

I should know better than to ask for your help just before I knew my schedule was about to explode. I'm sorry. Sort of. But sort of not sorry because ...wow!

grapefruit, I bet you never knew how lucky you were to not have a big, ugly well pipe as a yard "feature". Apparently, that's where the electrical part of the well pump is housed. The pump itself is under there somewhere.

lukki, We're twinsies! My septic is directly off of our back deck. It has a lovely bed of weedy white rocks over the access. I mean, why be subtle?

robo, Ooh! I like both of those! Thanks for proving that a pergola can look good on a ranch. And yes, we have our share of windmills and lighthouses here too. The guy down the street has a giant toadstool covering his well.

lori, Now that you mention it, I don't see any reason why that pipe needs to be so tall. We had the top off of it to chlorinate the well when we first moved. There is nothing near the top of the pipe other than some wires. I'll look into that. Thanks!

bpath, You got me. It's the watering. I just don't think about it until things are starting to show the stress of being too dry. My neighbor tells me that it is not that big of a problem out here because the water table is so high. She's probably right. Our grass in town used to turn brown in the summer without watering. It was green spring through fall out here on the lake last year. That won't help me is I put in those cute windowboxes though ;/

And then we get to Magdalena ... Holy Cow! That looks amazing! In fact, after I showed it to my husband, I think we've decided to just do the repairs that must be done and save our money until we can do this. It's perfect. You even managed to hide our well. THANK YOU!