It definitely could use some landscaping in front and the walkway looks like it could use replacing.

It will be a cute little house once it gets fixed up.

Color, a tree... flower boxes and line of huge rocks to make people park elsewhere.

Shutters and landscaping. Paint the door! It's adorable!

A white picket fence. Lots of color on the home.

I think your house would be lovely painted a beautiful white. Center your front door, paint it a lovely red or yellow, and add shutters. Be sure the shutters are large enough to cover the windows if closed. I'd do a vertical wood shutter as opposed to vinyl louvered shutters. I think a slate or flagstone stoop and walkway would complement the style of your house as well as a pergola over the front door. You could also do a stained concrete with a soldier course of bricks on either side as a more economical alternative. Dormers centered over your windows would help a great deal to break up the roof expanse. I love the idea of a picket fence as suggested above. Add some landscaping and you'll have a real charmer! Good luck with your project.

Adorable! Think of it as a blank canvas. :-)

To prevent rogue parking, consider a fence, a hedge, or groupings of boulders/rocks (spaced less than a car-width apart).

Perhaps pick a saturated color that you like for the front door. Then find flowers for the garden that are similar in color.

You won't necessarily need to move the door to make it balanced and aesthetically pleasing. Landscaping or a piece of outdoor-friendly art could balance the space between the front door and left window.

I have seen a small house like this and it has been transformed into a very cute home. I agree with the white picket fence. Once you've centered your front door put up shutters on your windows, in glossy black. The house should be painted in white. You need foundation shrubs, I suggest dwarf boxwood along the front. You could add Annabelle hydrangeas at each corner to soften the corner and give a sense of a garden beyond. Oh, and a glossy black door. You could do a paver sidewalk to the front porch and expand that cement slab so that it runs a third of the length of the house, centered front. A house in the country should have a front porch with adirondack chairs.

Window boxes and white picket fence with solidly installed posts that won't move when car doors whack the fence. It'll be cute as a button. Add dormers when you are ready to reroof the house and have nothing else to spend money on.

Adorable house. I agree with adding: picket fence to retrain the soccer fans, curved walkway, planting beds in front and side, definitely a covered porch that runs length of house! I love the white paint on body of the house and a red door (but colors are personal), agree shutters but only if functionally correct width. What a sweet house!

Also, agree with earlier poster no need to change door location since visually looks fine not centered. Although adding beefier window trim may work better than shutters if space between the one window and door is too narrow. Big, fat trim is a great way to add a second color to the house.

Don't centre the door unless it makes interior sense. Improve the walkway either with new concrete or stone (bluestone is more formal, flagstone more casual/country. The gable windows are a sensible idea. The yard needs enclosing, whether by a fence or a hedge - again either could be don in a formal or informal way. Pick a common local wildflower, and make that the door colour.

You have a really neat looking country cottage very much in need of a front porch that also wraps around the right side, using a shed roof with a hip corner and a small gable within the shed roof over the front door.

http://www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com/image-files/country-porch-gable-roof-1.jpg

Consider recreating the sidewalk from the porch (at the front door), by outlining it with paving stones, Eventually you could outline the driveway (and any parking space) with the same paving stones, too.

Whether that pavement in the front of your home is the road or part of your driveway or a parking space, instead of the overused "white picket fence" that requires frequent repainting and can be flimsy and easily knocked over by a car bumper, create a country fence with 4' treated fence posts and connected by either just treated boards to define your turf.

http://www.ricksfencing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/pic1742.jpg

or by chain link for limiting access.

http://www.ilandscape.com.au/image/20101202_ChainLinkedWoodPosts_1.jpg

or, for more privacy, by treated lattice.

http://countrygardens-rayleigh.co.uk/job-images/fencing-gates-1a.jpg

Use a pair of tall posts on each side of the sidewalk and at each side of the driveway and at each end of the yard, and then top them with solar lights.

Then plant a row of bushes you actually like just inside the fence, preferably something that will stay green year round such as holly or acuba.

One tree centered in the yard on one side of the sidewalk in front of the home and/or a birdbath centered in the front yard on the other side of the sidewalk would help with curb appeal as well.

Centering the door would help with the interior. We plan to widen the doorway and put two sidelights to help lighten the interior.(low ceilings)

Eyebrow windows are great curb appeal. The metal roof, as well.

We would like a metal roof, However the roof was replaced in 2015 so we wont be doing that anytime soon :)

Well, that's good. One expensive thing not to have to do.

I actually LOVE the simplicity of your house. My grandparents had a white and black farmhouse and I have such fond memories. Your location looks incredible! I would live in the house before making any drastic changes. Here are some simple changes in the meantime...

Landscaping would be less expensive than structural changes and adds instant charm and colorful curb appeal. And if you change your mind, you can always rip it out later. In the attachment, the only hardscaping involves adding an awning, a garden gate, window boxes, climbing rose lattice, and paving stones for the front walk, and most easily done with minor carpentry skills or a trip to a box store. You can use hardy plants for your area, and it's not nearly as hard on the pocket as some things can be. Knockout roses, spirea, ninebark or boxwoods, a conifer or two, (all drought-tolerant plants) and you're done. I also added a rain chain and birdfeeder, but they aren't necessary. Add a porch swing on an frame covered with jasmine, and you can watch those soccer games across the street, or enjoy those expansive views you have!

I agree with the others about not moving the front door unless it improves your interior flow.

There is one other way to keep people off your lot, charge them if they park there:)

IMO it's rude for anyone to park on your lot without permission. It is easier to enforce the no parking aspect if you have a fence or barrier of some type. Landscaping would be budget friendly, a fence a more permanent solution.

^I think the addition of a front covered porch like the above would bring your home to the next level.

Have fun planning this, you have a great home!

Good fences make good neighbors. Keep your neighborhood off your future landscaping space. That pathway is a real eyesore, too.

One more insp pic

^Same covered entry with the door not centered. Looks adorable. Your home is very close to this already. I wouldn't do the shutters on your home because your windows are too wide.

Post is 2 years old.

Thanks katinparadise, I didn't even notice *embarrassed*

Happens all the time Denita!