massive pruning so you can see it, would help. perhaps building a porch and having an adequate pathway, would really help. hard to find a pic of what I mean, but on this order:

spend the money on landscape design w/some hardscape. Maybe a larger porch. All of that will make a world of difference.

Removing the shrubs, especially the ones in front of the entry, will go along way to improving the overall appearance. Accentuating the walkway to the front door with landscaping would be helpful. I’d add a bench, if space allows, under the window to the left of the door. Add more substantial railing . Much more cost effective than the new door and portico. Maybe someone can mock up options for you. Good luck with your new home!

What do you consider an “outrageous”price? 30K? 40K? 50K?

The door is perfectly visible and obvious from the driveway, where it counts.

But the entire front of the house is covered in overgrown shrubbery that is way out of scale for the house. Strip it and plant better shrubs. That will make the entrance show better.

The tree on the right is awesome !!.

Replace the shrubbery with something more to scale, remove the railing, and just build out the porch. It will become entirely welcoming and your perceptual problem will disappear....

I would guess that a railing by the steps is required by code?

flopsycat-

Thanks for that thought. I agree that, depending on how many stairs are needed, it could be a code requirement. What I was trying to express, if somewhat unclearly, was that that particular railing detracted from the entry, and that rebuilding the porch/steps to be more expansive would make it much more attractive. Depending on the re-design, there could be a requirement to still have a railing, but it could have a much nicer appearance, and be less in-your-face.

I kind of like the way iy faces you just need to make sure you lead guests to the doortake those huge bushes away turn the steps so that they face forward and are the wole width of thta space including the steps there now if done properly the rialing could be on the right and alot less in your face.Make the walkway come from the street up to the new steps .Alot of that could be DIY for sure . In fact all those overgrown bushes need to be removed

Actually the door faces in the right orientation for how people approach the house. There are no public sidewalks and people are not going to walk up the middle of the lawn to the front door.

The side facing entrance faces the natural pathway to the house, and on this style of house a side entry is fairly typical and natural.

It doesn't need the giant, almost ceremonial entryway of the Millennial house that says "HERE is the door" practically visible from outerspace that only strangers go to anyway.

I love the house and think it will be fine with some landscaping. More than fine. :-)

Agree with the consensus above, you have a lovely home. All you need is to change the landscaping and walkway as suggested above. Once you do that, you won't even realize the door is side facing, it will open up your entry tremendously. Get a good landscape designer to put together a landscape and hardscape (walkway is hardscape) plan for you to implement as time and budget allow.

Also wondering if the tree in between the shrubs is too close to the house and may eventually damage the foundation

It may be that some of your shrubs can be effectively used as part of a new planting scheme. Don't start hacking away at those shrubs or pulling them out before you have had a professional landscape consultation.

In my 45-year old neighborhood I have seen some pretty amazing pruning work done on badly overgrown shrubs. The heavily-pruned shrubs look odd for a year or so, then they fill in and look great - and a fully mature size. If they'd been ripped out and replaced with new shrubs, it would have taken many years to get to that nice look. For example, yews can be pruned this way right back into the bare branches and they will green out. Spruce cannot.

could you answer the question of how much is outrageous? How many contractors did you talk to?