Cute house! I think getting rid of the rocks will sure help make it easier to plant things. Maybe someone will offer up some ideas.

It would give a tidier appearance if you remove the lower limbs from the large tree, clearing the house.

I'm not a fan of raised edging for multiple reasons. The present edging looks difficult to maintain, poorly installed (lumpy & bumpy,) and its layout doesn't fit great, IMO. A properly installed brick or paver mowing strip not only looks good, but facilitates easier maintenance. However, it's obvious why the raised edging exists -- to contain the rock mulch (which I'm also not a fan of because it's somewhat inflexible and hard to undo.) You need to decide if you're keeping it before moving forward. (My planting arrangement suggestions are based on getting rid of it and using groundcover instead.)

Given the size of the tree, the bed below it should be expanded correspondingly. Imagine the tree were a potted plant and the bed below it was the top of the container. Based on the first photo, one could see that the tree looks way oversized for the size of the container. The tree is hard to make smaller, but the bed is easy to expand.

I'm neither a fan of smothering buildings with plants. A single shrub below the window would eventually be enough as long as you have other plantings -- perennials, annuals, groundcover, etc. to balance out the equation. Around the tree could be a mass of tall, flowering perennial (or even a moderate height shrub. Connecting everything together could be groundcover. All of this equals a very low maintenance scape.

Oh, also, I would ditch all the planting that surrounds the walk. It lessens the welcoming quality of entering and makes the walk seem confined. The walk already is too narrow for the house and the entrance opening. If you have in your capabilities, I would revise that (widen) and make it more inviting. Plants there, pinching things off, it not really an asset. Well cared for turf would help the look of everything.

Thank you Yardvaark for commenting! I agree with everything you said. Everything was done by previous owners and I just didnt want to deal with it at the time of moving in.

Is there anything you would do with the spruce? It is hard to tell in the picture but it is very thin near the bottom 5 feet from the ground.

I have been planning on removing the rock mulch the best we could and just doing bark.

Do you have any suggestions for the side yard bed?

I agree with yard about the foundation planting. You have an exceptionally handsome foundation so don’t hide it.

just a quick comment about the spruce .... notice it's natural shape has the bottom limbs being shorter than those above them. Guess what?? ... they're all in too much shade from the limbs above, which will become worse every year. Needles will drop and eventually there will be little foliage. They'll become ugly and you'll want to remove them. The plant is turning into the tree form ... a canopy with a trunk holding it up. Also, as limbs grow longer, they'll be consuming more of the lawn space, and maybe invading the street or sidewalk space. It's pretty much a sure bet that you'll need to accept limbing it up into the tree form later if not sooner.

Along the side bed, you'd probably want to smooth out the bed line. The plants there don't look too bad except for the tree (by the window) that is too close to the house. I'd remove it. Fill in the ground area with groundcover and I think it could look complete.