handrail and fencing would be great elements to be updated.

The decks seem pretty useless. They are not really wide enough for seating. The current owners have nothing on the decks. The night view may be of far off city lights but is mostly blocked by eucalyptus trees.

dytecture, how about ripping off the decks? Seems by owner response they are useless! Bothers me when you can't access them from inside the house! Ideas?

Any ideas for the front fence? Paint it, or replace it, or completely remove it?

I realize this house is a different style, but I like the stairs and planter boxes along the hand rail.

is your house near a lake?

Remove the fence! It does nothing for the street appeal of the house- which has great potential! Is it rendered?

No, it's not near a lake.

I'm not sure I know the definition of rendered in this context. I'm a newbie at this!

How about a more dramatic set of stairs? Start wider at the bottom....so that the stairs curve to the right. The stairs need to be closed so you can't see through them. Open stairs look unfinished.

If you have a nice back yard, how about some mounds in the front, with large bushes, to shield the house from the street and give some interest to the landscape? You would still have your night view from the upstairs but the downstairs would be blocked from the street.

I agree with the idea of closing the stairs and that would look nice having them widen towards the bottom or turn to the side.

As we would like to remove or replace the front fence, we will need to do some landscaping, but I'm not sure to what scale.

If the fence is sound, paint it white and plant some rambling roses out front. You could just paint the railing on the house white for now as well until you decide on a plan. It would freshen up the house for you. Maybe you could trim the the vertical that go past the top and bottom rails so they are even with the rails.

Thanks handymam (great name!). My husband likes the idea of a white fence. Would we want it to match the trim of the house? Repainting the house is a plan but I'm not sure when in the whole scope of things.

I would like to see the trim and the railings and the fence all the same. But even if you just paint the fence and rails for now, it would make a big difference.