The bottom picture is the front of the house, but the house is approached from an angle (top picture).

This is a great looking place - want to study a bit more .

First instinct is to add some hardscaping and landscaping that will direct a visitor to the front door rather than to the deck area .. a brighter front door color would be a quick fix . many shades great with brown . . . . possibly a columnar screen at the corner of the house so that people can't tell if you are home or not . . when then pull in ..

want to search some contemporary entries for you . . not thinking dormer adds to the contemporary style . . but a narrow high ribbon window along the front facade might be nice inside and out depending upon the grades around your home ..

you might create an entry court with low sit walls / site walls that create a zone of privacy . . imagine this with sheltering foliage on left end of house brought toward photographer .. so path leads you to door . . .you might spread your stairs out along the salt box facade a bit more like second photo to add more contemporary element

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If you semi enclosed . . it directs people to the front door . . they still get a peekaboo view

as for colors . i need to know more about where you are.. . generally geographically speaking . .

Upper and porch railing in steel cable would be terrific. . .keep the main structural elements . love the board n batten . . connecting the little high windows with another so you get a ribbon effect .. .is this a stain? then instead of priming you might try washing the wood with a light beige to see if you get the greige / woodgrain driftwood / barnwood look .. that would be amazeballs with teal painted window trim / sashes and a bm venuezuelan sea front door . the house is classic perfect . .. dress up the stairs, screen the meter boxes change out the rails paint . . don't need to do more there

. . .add a low wall in a contemporary material .. landscape design alone will deliver what you desire ..

I like the salt box style and I would not change this house. I like the brown front door, too. If you want to change the color of the front door, I'd stick to colonial colors (even tho U have a contemporary salt box).. There are lovely colonial paint colors here to choose from: reds, pumpkins, yellows. http://www.californiapaints.com/find-color/color-collections/historical-colors-of-america/colonial-colors.aspx

I might upgrade the landscaping. I like the birch tree and would add more of those + some ever green trees. The house below was built in a wooded lot with birch and ever greens. I'd copy their wooded landscape. Note the birch look especially nice at night when lit and the ever green trees look good during the day.

If U need a retaining wall the stone below is lovely with the dark brown, I think.

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Maybe consider shed style dormer with some hand hewn plank siding. Add a little stone accent to the bottom of some walls. I would also update the stairs and railings. Possibly try some cable or stainless panels.