Wow, when you said maze you really meant maze! I can't tell what's going on there - does the walkway inside the maze have to take that circuitous route from front door to garage for some reason, or could a new direct pathway be laid if those shrubs weren't there? On first glance, I would say that the walkway is not only weirdly meandering but far, FAR too narrow for the size and grandeur of the house. I think you need to decide how to fix that hardscaping first, then worry about landscaping once you have a path that suits the house.

I wouldn't do anything to the house itself until you have the path figured out either. No shutters - it looks like your windows aren't made for them. I think your porch is an appropriate size for the house too - once you get the pathway issue fixed, I think everything else will make a lot more sense.

I would love to give you really thoughtful advice, but I can't seem to focus on anything but the front garden. It's...mesmerizing. Ha.

I honestly don't know if you need anything other than a landscaping redo. Shutters do not seem right for this home. I like the clean lines...it's a very handsome home.

Leave the house alone just concentrate on the front lawn, I can see a nice fountain instead of the very busy maze design , here is idea for you to consider .

First off, you are not looking to 'jazz it up'. That's what you currently have. You've got Sun Ra, and what you want is Bach. There is nothing wrong with that, just if you aren't particularly interested in reinventing the wheel, it's been done before. Move some of the boxwoods near the house for a foundation planting. If the brick was dry-laid (it does look like it) redo a wide path straight from the base of the porch to the driveway.

Because I don’t know how far you house sits back, you can salvage the current sidewalk by removing the maze section and having a sidewalk that goes to the street and one that accesses the driveway. One positive note, the person that installed it, properly pulled it far enough away from the house. You can also salvage the plantings by pulling them out in fall and replacing them per a proper plan. This reminds me of an English maze and not appropriate for a front yard. As the other person said, a small fountain would be great in hour front if you Iike that look.

The garage doors are the wrong color. Everything looks beautifully classic but those doors drag down the home. Paint those babies white!

You say you are desperate for solutions, and admit you are clueless. How long have you lived in the house? Do you have very young children? Answering these questions will affect my response to your desperation.

@kiminpl - We haven’t moved in yet! We’re combining families (he has 3 boys and I’ve got 1 of each) but they’re all 13+! Hope that helps. Just needing some vision. The home is relatively new and inside needs very little but this front is just a mess. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I would fashion the front after the back. A hedge kept low to line the the lawn perimeter, then woodland shrubs behind them. It seems the previous owner only used conifers and boxwood. You can do much better.

Another thought is that you have no path from the guest parking to the front door.

Forgive the crudeness of the image, I am not a pro.

Woodland gardens can be very appealing.

I would meet with a few landscape designers to learn the possibilities.

"This front is just a mess." That is your first impression. I suggest you live with it for a few months before doing anything. Surely you will change it, but you don't yet know what it's like to live with the existing garden. The experience of it may shift your understanding slightly. mad_gallica said "you have Sun Ra but you want Bach" -- maybe. But maybe you don't know what you have or what you want. Give it time to sink in. What's the rush. No film crew coming, is there? There are philosophies that result in what someone has carefully planned and built in what is now your front garden. It may not be your philosophy, and that's fine, but just "try it on" and spend some time in those "clothes." Then you will come to know not only what you don't want, but you will know WHY and you may even know what you DO want, and why. I don't see it as a maze, but someone in a big hurry undoubtedly sees it that way. In some gardens, indirect paths or spirals are made for meditation or for giving the inhabitant a few extra seconds in the day to smell the roses, or in other words, to appreciate the peaceful feeling a walk through greenery can bring. With combined families, whose garden is it, anyway? ;) Last comment -- when entering the house, you may find you never use the front door, but enter through the garage. If you entertain a lot, a meditation front garden may not be quite the thing. But don't be too hasty. Live with it for a time.

Dig Doug's sweeping driveway is spot on. Once upon a time all homes of this caliber had this type of "formal approach".

Chipflipper, I had a similar approach and took it out. It has a tendency to cut the house in half and make installation of a garden all that more difficult. Besides most “grand homes” do NOT have a motor park in front. I would discourage OP from ruining her front yard with a driveway across the front lawn.

What I depict is most definitely not a motor park.