Adorable...I would bother with shutters...feels more Victorian in style, rather than cottage style.

I'd spend the money on landscaping and an additional patio off the slider.

Make the path to the front door cute...no where to put just a small drive to welcome guests.

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/spring-gardens-are-blooming-heres-what-to-do-in-april-stsetivw-vs~8726182

Judy- Thanks. We just returned from elsewhere so l have not done my spring landscaping cleanup yet. Yes, style is questionable. Trim is more Victorian ...but nothing else is so that creates a dilemma.

Carol- I can't paint the vinyl body of the house but would consider painting the wood trim. Ideas for color? House is in western NY. Thanks.

Carol- Hmmm I didn't think of wider path but love the idea. Also agree about shrubs. I have pretty summer flower garden but it is tough to maintain. I love New Mexico..

Thanks!

I think these barn lights will add a lot of liveliness to the front of your house. Also, they are customizable (on cocoweb dot com website) which is pretty amazing!

[https://www.houzz.com/products/goodyear-led-barn-light-with-metropolitan-stem-white-10-prvw-vr~35238798[(https://www.houzz.com/products/calla-led-gooseneck-barn-light-galvanized-prvw-vr~32606786)

Coco. I like this idea too. We have nice lights on either side of sliding doors on back of house and they look good. We only have ceiling light on back. Thanks!

Haha...I probably should have mowed the lawn before I took the photos! It usually looks much better. No wonder I am getting comments about landscaping!

I would replace sliders too but it is not in the budget. (We are replacing white appliances and formica in the kitchen so that limits the budget in other areas. ) Beds are actually curved, which is not obvious in photo but I totally agree with you and others... will look at landscaping and widening our stone walkway. Thanks!

House was built in 2002

Thanks to all of the advice, I expanded the garden, added a trellis- which we love- and rearranged plants and shrubs. We still need to work on getting better plants for the back but best to do that in the fall when the raspberries by the trellis are done. We will begin work next week to widen the stone walkway and replace icky plastic with stone bricks on the sides. Grass is a mess due to being walking on when we expanded the garden, but a good rain should fix that.

I am thinking of adding wrought iron lanterns on either side of the door (again, advice from one of you). Still unsure about whether I should get a wood screen door (stain or paint and add iron handle?) OR just paint the existing door a dark color. Any more suggestions for the door area, folks? Thanks so much!

Very cute! If it were my place, I would go with larger flowering shrubs: hydrangea (I have white Annabelle, but Endless Summer, pink, blue, lavender, are shorter), spirea (magenta colored) and weigela (Rhumba or Wine and Roses, mine get to 4' when they are only supposed to be 3' here in zone 5a Wisconsin). They are low maintenance and give blocks of color, flowering most of the season.

Love the trellis! You can always grow a clematis on there, check the bloom season on that though because you want something long blooming and also what height you'd want, or plant two different types that bloom at different times so you always have color, you want to see some of the trellis because it's so pretty!

I would also add porch rails to each side that match your deck, not only for safety but when taking pictures it would detract from the outlet and the downspout.

A wood screen door would add charm and warmth. Victorian Woodworks has nice doors.

old post

Forgot about this post until someone commented recently. We ended up redoing posts to make them Bungalow style, added a stained wood screen door, painted the concrete and added iron lanterns on either side of door. Thanks for suggestions everyone