I think you could completely change the look by painting the exterior in a bold, but tasteful color (im thinking navy), getting rid of the shutters, installing a new door in a contrasting color (im thinking a medium tone wood color), and adding some pots of bright colored flowers on the porch. Swapping out your black porch furniture for white would help too. I'm not really a fan of the columns. I'd prefer to have one between each set of windows instead of the current arrangement where some obstruct the view, but unsure if changing this would be expensive?

First thing I would do is remove the columns that block a window. Then, beef up the size of the remaining four.