Charming home. You need shutters that are wider that match the width of your windows.

You could add a Dovecote to the side of your garage.

You could increase the importance of the entrance with half walls & planters

thanks so much for the ideas. I'm not familiar with dovecotes, but the peak of the garage would be perfect for it, wouldn't it? Also thanks for the tip about the shutters. We didn't know that they weren't the right dimension, and the half wall might be a great idea. We did have planters on the front step, but they started to stain the step, so we removed them. Time to find new ones!

Love Beverly's suggestions. Yes...each shutter should be half the window's width.

Widen the front walkway. Even if you don't use it much, it currently looks really pinched and unwelcoming. At the very least, put a good-sized landing in front of the steps that is at least the width of the steps.

In replanting, pull out the plants from the building so that there is room to walk behind the mature plants. Right now they look squashed against the building. You want some evergreens, whether broadleafed shrubs like mountain laurels/Kalmia or Rhododendrons, or conifers like spruce, pine, or arborvitae along with deciduous shrubs or small trees. Choose your plant sizes so that they don't outgrow the space available and so that you don't have to do pruning to keep them in check. Know that nursery tags tend to give 5-10 year size, and if you want to not have to replant in 10 years, look up the ultimate size range at a botanic garden. I like MOBOT's Plant Finder since once you have a name (genus and species), you can look up how large you can expect. If it were mine, I would plant a low groundcover between the shrubs and the walkway rather than keeping it in grass.

To get more specific feedback, better photos are needed that take in the entire width of the property.

For the pics, you've, taken the camera to the far left and far right and shot across partial scenes at long angles. It would be better to take the camera to the center of the front face and shoot a panned scene of overlapping pictures from far left to far right. Or, since the facade is long, you may have to break it up into two overlapping separate scenes, with the camera positioned in line with the center of each, and shooting from far left to far right of each separate scene. (These will overlap so we'll be able to grasp how they fit together.)

Back up with the camera, off of the property, and take a picture (or overlapping pictures) that shows how the whole front yard looks from the neighborhood (from a central position.)

I would disregard advice to change or remove shutters. More or less no one's shutters function mechanically as per the purpose of their original invention. Today, they serve more like "enhancers," -- the same as how false eyelashes and eyeliner add drama to the eye when it is viewed from a distance. The shutters are acting as trim that enhances the window, as they are viewed from a distance. Removing them will substitute a "plain Jane" look. Widening them so they appear actually capable of shutting will probably be expensive and may look odd since today's windows are usually shorter than those which originally had operating shutters. You'll have to judge what it's worth, or if it's worth it. If the removal fad runs its course in reasonable time, shutters will be en vogue again before you know it.

Doug, just curious, for the lovely transformation you proposed, what would the cost be? Wish you were in New England.

Save money up front by pulling out the overgrown shrubbery yourself. A length of chain and a trusty vehicle can help you out there. Consider dwarf varieties of the plants you put it so they don't outgrow their welcome. I can't tell if the white parts of the home are brick or stucco. Either way, they look to need a serious refresh. I like Doug's concept of changing the color to compliment the brick part.

Cost varies depending on the market you live in. The biggest cost would be a new walkway as depicted.

NHBabs, love your vision. The sidewalk info and placing the plantings out further are great ideas that we haven't thought of. Thanks.

Doug, appreciate your input, the renderings greatly improve the look of the house.

Yardvaark, thanks for the photo tips, I agree that we should have taken better shots. There's a 5' hill by the road that makes picture taking a little challenging. :)

Decoenthusiaste, the white parts of the house and garage are stucco. We've powerlessness it so often, we think it now needs to be replaced.

I'd still like better photos as per Yardvaark. With only the house and a small space in front shown, it really is difficult to add any but general suggestions.

appreciate the feedback, we will try to get more detailed pics and post them.

Here are some more detailed pics of the front. As always, thanks in advance for any feedback and
suggestions that are provided. What we have received so far has really peaked
our interest in what can be done to improve the property.

Sorry Banff, but those pictures are not the ones I'm asking for and I think it may be too difficult to explain. Briefly, I was asking for two different distances ... close for the foundation planting area and distant for an overall understanding of the front yard as it fits into the neighborhood. all your pictures are from a mid distance ... too far for seeing "foundation" planting area, and too close for seeing overall view.) There is a single shot lined up with front door, but no panning to capture what is at each side. Moving the camera destroys the ability to connect the pictures in a given scene. It is only useful for a different scene .... ending up with many parts of a scene, but no complete scene.

So for each set (such as the front door area) standing in one place with the camera, and just pivot your body to the left for a few shots that overlap a bit and to the right for a few shots that overlap.

I appreciate the specific clarification, but this was the best we could do. We are not in a neighborhood, we face a busy road and the front of our property is on top of a hill that is 5' above the street, and it was from the edge of that hill that the shots were taken. When we stood in 1 place and pivoted to take overlapping shots, we lost detail for good shots. Thanks for your continued attempt to help, and apologies that the pictures didn't measure up.

I'd pull the bushes in front of the brick part, and replace with a fairly wide bed of groundcover. There isn't any reason to have any grass between the walk and the house. Pachysandra, periwinkle, or any other shade groundcover would work. I'd put evergreen azaleas of a fairly small type in front of the stucco garage. I expect the house could also use a shade tree off to the left, and perhaps another. That I can't tell from the photos. Widening the walkway is an obvious upgrade.

banff1976, I think you went above and beyond in your efforts to help the Houzz community visualize your property. It's a lovely home with some great opportunity to enhance the curb appeal. I am also here looking for tips to help with the curb appeal on my own house. I hope we have a chance to see some "after" pictures once you've completed your landscaping upgrades.

The house has nice architecture. That is why the current landscaping is so bad, in my non professional opinion. There is no need for tall plants between windows. The plants to the sides of the stoop are planted too close to the house and also appear to narrow the entrance by encroachment. The beauty of the house could be viewed better by simple landscaping that does not overwhelm. I am curious about the large broad leaf shrub at the right corner. It is not too close to the foundation and could possibly be trained to grow as a small tree which would be nice. Do you know the species?

I would not spend money to enhance a path that you have said is not used. Rather I would add a path to the street.

As I said, I am not professional so my image is very crude.

Don't take much notice of the color of plants. Just the sizes. I also enlarged the lights.

Here is a cape cod without shutters. You may prefer the look of no shutters after you give it a try.

^Notice the lack of tall shrubs between windows. The last house looks very nice even without shrubs. Not that I would leave it bare but I am attempting to show that you do not need to hide the house behind a lot of greenery when it is already attractive.

The house above looks nice with taller shrubs because it has a raised foundation which yours does not.

Start looking at gardening pictures in magazines and books and online. Houzz has many.

It would help if you could take some pictures standing in the front doorway. One facing center, then one each of right and left while standing in the same place. It is important that the garden look nice to the homeowner while looking out the windows.

I also want to add that it is easy to find beautiful landscape pictures but if you are not a hobby gardener I would stick with something simple.

A garden like this needs weekly maintenance.

mad_gallica, thanks for your input. We agree about the groundcover and it's amazing how widening the walkway really helps, isn't it? We also really like the idea of the small bushes, and now we are starting to visualize a shade tree, (perhaps a dogwood or dwarf japanese maple?) somewhere in front of the garage/ house to camouflage the location of the air conditioner unit, and interest.
emmarene - thanks for your comments about the architecture - that's probably why the landscape has always bothered us. Until now we've made due, but it is so time to update the property! We were so used to the tall bushes between the windows - but it does look better with something low there doesn't it? The overgrown plant on the right corner is a rhododendron, that we have been trimming back about 1/3 every year, I think it's time to get it out and put something else in there. We really appreciate you taking the time to locate and add those pics to show us what you were talking about.

This is what makes the Houzz community so great!

Thanks!

A dogwood or Japanese maple isn't a shade tree. A shade tree is an oak or a maple - something with some size to it. In the eastern former forest, those are the trees that tend to make or break a neighborhood since they are what any abandoned land is going to revert to.

I'd also want something to break up that vast expanse of roof. So something that is going to be tall enough to have branches that high, but not much lower.

I would put in a retaining wall where the "steep"slope is, yes less than 3 feet. It would add some interest to the yard and you could get things like creeping phlox to trail over it.

Love that idea!

Lowering and simplifying the plants in front of the foundation will help bring the tall roof into balance with the one-story frontal facade. Given the prominence of the roof, I suggest making it the major feature. While you're widening the shutters, how about a new roof in slate or cedar? Only kidding, but think about planting a vine like climbing hydrangea to scramble across it. My sister does this to great effect without damaging the roof or siding of her house by attaching it to a trellis.

wow, can you imagine the cost of a slate or cedar roof on this house?! :)
Thanks for the explanation of lowering the plants to balance out the roof - never thought of it that way.