this reminded me of your house......cute

I would frame the driveway with green hedges or small flower plants

HI -- I love your mid century house . I like the curve of the driveway so I think you should work with that . Have a 3 foot wide band planting bed on each side . On the right plant some low growing junipers every three feet or so and then cover the ground with some decorative gravel either light or dark. Now on the left side plant some river birch trees and fininsh with the same gravel then left of that have a 3 foot wide walkway . This will be easy to look after . You could also then have a row of flowers on the left side of the new walkway. Then even more to the left more out on the lawn plant a feature tree , like maybe a weeping birch or something showy. This will all be a nice leed in to the front door.

deabinder, if you’re looking for landscape planting suggestions, it'd help to know what city or state (or country) you're from. I like the look of the house as is, but the picture is a little hard to read as far as what’s going on up near your foundation and window. If you live somewhere with snow or you plan on making the front lawn more usable, I wouldn't advise lining bushes along the drive, cuts it off and your guests will find it hard to walk around their car, unless you expand with a coach walk on the side. I like lefty47 & bygeorgi ideas about using some multi-stem trees. They give you a lot of impact for the money. I'd simplify the foundation plants with some massing of lower goundcovers, and just a couple of groups of shrubs or ornamental grasses near the corners if you think you need to "soften" them. I think a nice interesting piece of sculpture would look nice against your car port and lit with some outdoor lighting. Maybe balance with something else on the other side and hang something on the fireplace and uplight it.

It looks like you have a grand vista to the right. Maybe you want to define the driveway more and make that area into a big courtyard / patio for entertaining. There'd be plenty of room to throw a football too. No rules that your entertainment space has to be in the back yard. It's your space and you can shape that front yard into more than a display for foundation plants.

Perhaps some hard-scaping and landscape features to define your yard.

Building on Dytecture and bygeorgi, if you have a seatwall to define a "courtyard" across the way from the carport and then change the paving or make a band of pavers across the existing drive, it'll make it feel less like the driveway is coming straight into the house. It'll make the space a little more special and you can have some landscape or trees work off that wall to even further define that outdoor room.

Thank you so much for all your ideas! It always help to toss ideas around. We live in British Columbia, about an hour from the US border. To the right of the driveway and that lawn area, the ground falls away to a pretty steep bank down to the road. To the right of the driveway is a pretty flat lawn area and then a 3 ft stone retaining wall, with our neighbours above. I would love to eventually add another parking spot in front of the carport, ust so that my husband's vehicle doesn't block the front of the house when we're both home. Also, I would love any color suggestions, etc. for the exterior of our house. My husband is adament that he wants a navy blue front door...any suggestions for color combos?

Flip through this Flickr set. These homeowners did a fantastic job with the landscaping on their MCM home.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stlmodern/sets/72157604519461093/

I must agree with Stone and Land LLC... hard scaping will add the dimension and feel that is the corner stone , no pun intended for mid- century style out door spaces. A seat wall would be a fantastic addition to the yard ... it is such a large expanse of grass that's why I suggested a seating area ... a combo of cement and gravel plays on texture....you may want to look at mid century homes in Palm Springs...I was there a few months ago and wow !

When it come to color any greys from charcoal to warm light taupes or other natural tones usually compliment the hard scaping , personally I would use charcoal for the house color and a punch of color for the front door.... I think a grand house like yours could handle the drama... I like orange, teal, chartruese as an accent, keeping true to the color schemes of the era. Pull that color into your plant selections... I can't give advice there, I'm in southern California sorry, not a clue what would live in your neck of the woods.

You could create a zen garden with Japanese style plantings, using plants like Hinoki cypress, some raked fine gravel and a large boulder near the entry. A large specimen tree like a weeping birch or paper birch or even a larger maple further down in the yard to keep with the theme. There are lovely japanese gardens in your area and down in Seattle. You could add some clumps of grass for interest in the gravel. I would stay away from the junipers that look really tired after a couple of years. This makes me so homesick. We just moved from Seattle to Florida!!!

Have you done anything yet? Would love an update.

I would resurface the drive and stamp it a nice natural
stone color considering its a focal area. Matching the stamp with the right contrast will give
that wow and size look. Along the drive I would have a deep stack polyurethane stone
at about 12"H and 8" to 10"W that runs the length of the drive. For
the 12" wall, lights that shines only on the ground but not visible from
above would give a focal point at night. Make sure your exterior lights are the
same type bulb led 3200k or 4000k would be good for that extra attention grabber.
I would match the drive in outer wall with the same stone. For the grass I
would make the grass two different close tone colors, that will give the
lighter portion of the house a boost in color. For the trim and doors I would
go with the lightest color.

For the stamp a local driveway company can do it or you can
get a DYI set from home depot or lows for the drive we have done many
properties like this all over the nation.

We can send you some samples. It's simple fast work. This would
give the most contrast and focal point for the money.

Take a look at some idea and product information at

Https://buyfauxstone.com/index.php?Route=common/home