Clean up landscaping and add colorful flowers, annuals or perennials.

Mulch the beds also. Your windows are the right size for shutters, but I don't think your house needs them.

Powerwash brick and driveway. I would repaint the house the same color. Change the door color to green. Add some potted plants. Could we please see a larger photo of the whole house with more of the yard?

Try a trellis between the two windows with some roses or other climbing flower. Almost every home improvement store sells them.

Home looks nice, just needs a bit of fine tuning. It looks like this area is shady? I would do a fountain or feature in between windows. Just cleaning up, edging and adding a few colorful plants would look great. I would do not have anything in the doorway, keep it clutter free. I would paint door black and put nice colorful wreath on door. I would do a colorful pot in the middle of garage doors. Your home is neutral so any color pot would look great. It will look great when your finished!

I'm far from a pro, but the house at the angle of your picture is all dark roof. Normally I hate shutters because most are awful fake undersized things, but since your windows are narrow and appropriate for shutters I sort of feel like some striking blue shutters and matching front door along with well done large decorative potted plants as previous poster photoshopped in could go a long way. Or skip the shutters and go with nice trellis or something as suggested. I just bought a house, and after months driving around looking I am Keen on seeing front doors in modern trendy colors and nice landscape additions (because they signal that interior is likely modernized and nice looking as well...).

Pressure wash for sure and I like the green door idea as well. What color is your fascia and soffit?

When we replaced our windows we took our shutters down. I liked them but they were falling apart. Since we didn't go back with grid, I wasn't sure shutters would look right. Our yard is shady and yes it had been raining. I love the idea of putting planters. Thanks for the visual. Our door is cream color and needs replaced. I was thinking about leaded glass??? Thank you all for the suggestions. I already feel like I'm climbing out of a rut.

Soffit is a cream color and the fascia is a faded evergreen. It needs painted badly. I'm thinking a much darker taupe than the brick for the trim and if I go with shutters, painting them black or a very dark chocolate brown. Idk.

Love that!

I wouldn't bother with paint or shutters. The roof is the biggest visible surface and its grunginess draws the eye directly to it. The house looks moldy--driveway, sidewalk, gutters, roof. Everything needs a thorough cleaning (don't power wash the shingles, though).

Cut the trees up away from the roof to let some light in and let it dry out. Use a fungicide on it. Then, when everything looks better, work on the landscaping.

I love the color on Beverly's post with the darker taupe shutters. Please don't do door green, your whole place is surrounded by green. Grass, trees, landscape....Choose a rich other color so the door is by itself. When you add in all the pops of color with landscape, pots the house is going to be very inviting. I used a color called Carbon by Behr. Here is an example. Glad to hear your getting out of your rut. It's gonna look awesome!

How about a narrow pergola across the front of garage doors? That would soften the front facing garages. I like the shutter idea, but I also like the large trellis between the window idea. But maybe not the trellis with the pergola. The pergola would look best with the shutters.

Could you possibly post a photo of the entire front of the house? You've got some great ideas going already.

Agree 100% with tatts. Before you do any painting, clean up the house, walkway, driveway and have the roof cleaned professionally (not pressure cleaned). Once you do that, and trim the landscaping, you will be able to see the house and select appropriate colors. You could go with shutters - you have the room. But you could also go contemporary with no shutters and more modern garage doors. The walkway is almost buried in this photo. Before painting, I would work on the walkway area first. If you go in a modern direction with your home (no shutters), then go with a modern, more welcoming walkway and landscaping. Something similar to the inspiration pic below. See how wide and welcoming it is?

Go with a different walkway if you are going in a more cottage type direction with shutters.

I agree with pressure washing everything. You can pressure wash your roof if you get someone who knows what they're doing. You can get a gallon of Spray and Forget and it will help to prevent mildew in the future. You only need to reapply every 6 months or so. We use it here in Florida on our lanai to keep it from getting mildewed. I think shutters are a nice choice for the front of your house. Measure the window width and choose shutters that are half that width to be appropriately sized. I also like the color of your house and the lighter shutters that Beverly posted. I would avoid leaded glass as it has a Victorian feel to it. If you can post a picture of your front door, we'll be more than happy to make some suggestions. I think your house has lots of potential with a bit of landscaping and the right paint and shutters.

You have a very charming home. You could use shutters just the width of the whole window & mount them on the outside of each window if you add a trellis in the middle of the space or place them on the inside if not using a trellis.

A black front door really makes a statement. I would not paint your brick. If you do the door black use black for the shutters. Adding the large containers for flowers, vines or tiny shrubs will look great at the right & left of the front porch in the middle & to each side of the garage doors as mocreidhl showed.

I think Sherwin Williams has a program you can use with a photo of your house to help you select facsia. trim, garage door, shutters, etc. It will be the best way for you to actually visualize the color changes you want to make.

You also can add coach type light fixtures at each side of the garage doors. It really is good to have motion activated ones there & at the front door too for people approaching.

Power wash the roof and the driveway. I'd make it more traditional by adding some trim around the door opening, painting the door black adding shutters and carriage house garage doors and then redoing all the landscape. It is way too close to the house, and the first planting should be pulled at least three feet rom the foundation and away from the drip line of the house.

Love all of the suggestions. I've been out of town all weekend and haven't had a chance to post a pic of the entire house yet.

Here are some better pics taken a couple of years ago. Can someone please tell me what the style of my house is?

It looks like a 1980's contemporary ranch. What style are you wanting to lean toward? The one I need is the dead on shot of the front door so I can see the roof line. You are definitely in need of some power washing and new garage doors. I really think the house has a lot of potentional but the landscaping was literally smashed up against the brick which is a huge mistake and it looks like you have a circle of death around the poor tree. I'll try to help as this is my thing, but I'd really love some direction on what you want out of the project.

Well, it can't be called a ranch house because there are 2 floors.

The steep roof and 2nd floor (with a dormer on the back?) are typical of a Cape Cod. Yours just has a garage stuck on it.

This may be out of your budget, but a portico or roof at the front door would give interest to the roofline and draw attention to the front door, making it welcoming.

You want to draw attention to the front door so I agree that a nice wide walk would help. and a pergola or new roof extension.

A trellis *with climbing vines on the garage would help soften the roof and the garage doors.

The comments on the landscape are interesting. Fill in the landscape with a 3' ht. consistent hedge, what we call a foundation planting, all the same type, height and color. Pull out plants if you have to - when there a bunch of ones and twos of different types of plants, it looks disorganized. In between the windows I would go with a large accent plant - something much taller and fuller than the hedge, like 6' ht. A trellis in my opinion is too understated in this case. Then flowers and color right at the front door - could even be symmetrical pots. Border plantings could include plants with white leaves, like variegated Liriope, Hostas and variegated Euonymus. The light color leaves look great in the dark shade This simplified 3-type planting palette would make the facade look "cleaner."

A black front door seems like it would only make that shady alcove even darker.

good luck!!

JP comment well taken about the black door. I would also curve the landscaping - unfortunately my amateur program doesn't do that - the limitations of a computer. I agree a front porch would look great - but it would involve a great deal of roof work. It's why I tried to figure out a way to add trim at the front door. Also added a small shrub between the windows. Not sure I like it......but its the OP's home. I actually liked a hot pink front door but the landscape this time around was more red and less pink.

Home looks nice, especially appreciate the shade tree. Your sidewalk visually disappears. You might want to consider ways visually to invite visitors to walk from the driveway to the door with a new sidewalk and landscaping changes. Some landscaping to create more symmetry in appearance such as with the shrubs could help curb appeal. Pay attention to what will grow well in the amount of shade/sun your yard has.

Unless you actually want the garage doors to be the focal point of the front of your home, with that light brick you should keep the them and all the trim white. Black shutters against the light brick would make your home more formal looking -- that's a personal taste issue.

Having the front entry door be the focal point of your home is often accomplished by painting the door a bold color; however, if you're replacing the door, consider a darker shade of natural wood look -- with the light exterior walls, any color other than white for the door would emphasis it.

Another way to make the entrance the focal point is to change the entrance itself. If and when your budget permits, you might consider doing that.

Since keeping the shade tree is a much better idea than adding a front porch, perhaps you could extend the garage roof to cover the stoop, with the stoop extended to just even with or just beyond front of the garage. Budget permitting, create a forward facing gable over the stoop. An arbor over the garage that meets the newly extended stoop is worth considering.

Then redo the sidewalk. You could outline both a new sidewalk and/or patio with brick or stone and use the same brick or stone to outline your driveway.

You might also consider using the same brick or stone to create a front yard mini patio just large enough for a bench or small table w/two chairs under the shade of your tree, moving the shrubs now next to the house, and even adding a few more, to create a privacy barrier for your patio.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/f6/b5/7a/f6b57a9c135213ec21e03629dc28a7ff--front-yard-

I don't think your house requires fancy landscaping. In fact, I think it would look fine with a uniform bed of Hosta or ferns across the front. You already know you cannot have shrubs under the windows. The trellis idea sounds attractive but you have not indicated how interested you are in yard work. If you don't have time to groom a vine then do not go with a trellis. ?

I would paint the fascia the color of the roof.

I like the house just as well with shutters as without. I know they aren't cheap so that is a factor also.