Nice house. I think its a clean style that is meant to be sort of blah. When you get the money you could build out and up around front door to expand front porch and add a covered area.

I would take out the big shrubs from the front of the house, replace them with something smaller but still evergreen, and then add a punch of color by painting your front door. Maybe a pretty teal blue. Nice house!

I too own a flat-faced house :-) I agree with right sided landscaping and introducing pops of color in both front door and landscaping. I am considering first floor window boxes. Not sure I want to add a porch although I like the idea. Wonder if you can achieve a similar effect by decorating the front door area with container plants and perhaps a colorful bench ... hard to tell if there are steps into your home or if your entrance is flat or level. Good luck!

Thank you! What a great community this is. Never thought about the bushes being too big (I guess we were trying to "hide" a portion of the flat house :) :) ) but now I can totally see the point! Hmm, wonder if we could trim them in half...would they survive? The area is very shady and not everything will grow there. As for the question about steps--there are two small steps leading to the house, added quite recently (there was just an ugly cement stoop before)... Also like the idea about the front door porch. Wouldn't that cost at least a few thousand dollars, though? Whom to contact about that? House builders? Painting the door is great too--I could even do that myself! Thanks for all the advice--this is the first house I ever lived in/owned, so it's all rather new to me.

Pull out the overgrown shrubs. Replace with better scaled plants. I'd add window boxes!

Remove all of the foundation plantings. Trimming them will not be a good look. Get a landscaping plan and do it in stages as money permits. That alone will make a HUGE difference. I agree about painting the door, add a nice doormat, and some pots of flowers. Be sure to paint the door, storm door, and sidelights all the same color.

When the budget allows adding a portico over the front door would be fabulous.

Thanks so much, grapefruit1_ar. Any thoughts on what color to choose for the door and sidelights?

My house is very similar to yours with tan siding and light window trim. It's a saltbox style with a plain front. This is an early colonial style and is definitely not suited to shutters, front porches, or porticos. Embrace the simplicity and classic lines. I just pulled all of the front yard shrubs and it forced me to see my home in a whole new light. All other the window trim, facia, etc is being painted very soon. The new color is BM Fairview taupe...much darker than my current light beiges. If I could only figure out how to upload my inspiration photo from Houzz for you...ughhh! Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Thanks so much, carrolltf!! I am so glad that you mention the option of painting the trim and facia...It did cross my mind as a relatively inexpensive option (compared to adding a portico etc, which I am also happy to explore as budget allows). I would LOVE to see an inspirational photo. I think if the photo comes from Houzz, there is an icon under the comment box that should allow one to add it. Haven't actually tried it though :) Any photo of what you ended up with after you pulled out the shrubs that you would be willing to share? When we bought the house, it was late winter, which here means no greenery, and it looked so bare...(see photo)

Thanks so much again!

I agree with pulling out those huge evergreens. They cover the windows! If you want to have some fun before pulling them out, you could experiment with shaping them into topiary before pulling them out.

Wow...what a difference with the bare shrubs! Maybe you could check my ideabook...it's the photo with snow on the ground in CT. I don't have a ton of images so it should be easy to find. I'm painting my back windows now so I will try to send pics when I'm finished. Sorry I'm so bad at Houzz tech :(

Your home is lovely. I would remove the bushes and trim up the tree.

My thought is that if the front is the primary image the home presents there are some high visual type sidings that can be added to enrich the visual impact of a simple facade. This is not the cheapest solution but can create richness. It must be within the taste and style of the community to be neighbor friendly.

I totally agree with removing the large bushes.

I'd put it up for you carrolltf but I can't find your idea book.

Here it is carrolltf

Here another of carrolltf pictures that show the covered porch idea.

I'm sure the covered porch would be more than a few thousand dollars. It needs to be roofed with the same roof as the rest of the house. You would need to contact a contractor for an estimate. The contractor would need an architect or designer to do the drawings. I'd guess $10k.

Take out all of the shrubs,put down some kind of stones. Paint the term and windows a light blue, and the door the same.

Your house looks much better in the winter without all the greenery blocking the house. Maybe wait until winter when its sticks then cut it almost to the ground. When spring comes you'll see if they survived, then keep them very low. If they die maybe do something like the covered porch picture above.

Thanks suzyq53!

Agree with suzyq53 about cutting the bushes back and letting them grow in again but don't think that sparse landscaping looks good during the winter. You need something that stays green year round. Your doors can be any color as house is neutral. BM Firenze AF-225 or Philipsburg Blue HC-159 are 2 possibilities. But as suggested above you should not paint the sidelights just the door and storm door.

Thank you all so much--so many great suggestions! This is the "plan of action" that I have so far: 1) cut the bushes back significantly (to about 2 ft??) in the early spring and see if they survive and look good; investigate other evergreens; may need to consult a landscaper first to have a back up plan
2) paint the door and the storm door. LOVE the BM Firenze Af-222 jck910 suggested!! Blue sounds great too but may not be a good match for the community as all houses are yellowish, tannish, light green, grayish, or white here. Now SHOULD I PAINT THE SIDELIGHTS the same new color as the door OR NOT? There seem to be conflicting opinions in this thread.

3) May paint window trim and fascia the same new color as the door (IS THAT A GOOD IDEA?)

I also found a picture of a house in our community last night that seems to be the same model (and is by the same builder) but more ornate

Looks sooo beautiful!! But yes, I assume such an addition would cost more than $10,000--could never talk the hubby into that :( :(

Another pic of the same model with a portico/balcony and a gable (also the same builder):

When looking at these, I am wondering if the building crew suddenly got tired in the middle of building our house and walked away :)

I still say NO to painting sidelights same color as door. They are windows and should be same color as all window trim. That said I would not paint trim the door color. The door is to be focal point. If you want to paint the trim go with white. A lot of houses have white trim. BM Brilliant White is a good one. No I don't think they walked away, those porches are expensive so maybe the builder needed some at a different price point. I live in Massachusetts and every new development near me has houses exactly like yours. It isn't so odd as you seem to think.

I love the authentic look of the flat front personally. I love that color too!

That's an original 1710 version like yours. I think it's beautiful. Maybe do a similar doorway and eliminate the trim above your current one. American flags look classy too for that style house.

Clear out the drastically oversized evergreens. Paint all door (including the pediment) and window trim a rich blue-green or brown. As your window trim is wide, don't add shutters.