What a cutie! Would you like any suggestions for the the entire house or only that small landscaping area? What is your budget?

@phuninthesun - Just the front porch and landscaping on the right side. I don't have a set budget, but because of how much we've spent renovating the rest of the house on the inside we can't afford anything too expensive. Doing the bed on the left cost me about $100.

I would add a tall bush/plant on the right next to the house. Or maybe a tall container in a color of your choice. Under your window, i would make the bed larger, and round it instead of square. Put taller plants in the back, and layer down. Check your zone and sun/shade and add lots of color. Maybe paint the shutters?

I would either use pavers or concrete to add small seating area

@SJS Interiors - Something like this next to the house?

BTW - if you have neighbors who have beautiful gardens, ask them questions and ask them for plants. Gardener love to share.

I'm sorry. I know you said you only wanted help with the landscape, but the devil made me do it.

@groveraxle - haha I know... Honestly this bothers me the most about the porch. The girly post. Maybe we can do that within the next year or so. Not sure how to do it easily.

One thing that can be done for less than 3 to $5 is to buy a bottle of clorox and brush it on the concrete areas... steps, step fronts, all the concrete. Then brush some over the bricks where the black mold is growing. Let it dry and leave it for a day, then rinse it off with water. If needed, apply clorox again and it will take all the dark off the concrete. Make sure to get the old type of clorox and not the splash free.

I love what Dig Doug's Designs came up with, except for the bench (bugs me it can't be centered under window without crowding entrance).

Take out ALL those edging blocks. They aren't needed and just add visual clutter. Sell them on craigslist to earn some money for your landscaping.

Regarding the porch post - put temporary 2x4's on either side of existing frilly thing and then remove frilly thing. Put 4x4 post there. Then use this tutorial to dress it up a bit: Turn Skinny Porch Posts into Beautiful Columns

Grover is right, get rid of the shutters! Those shudders bother me more than the post. Shutters vs Shudders

Dark screening on windows appears to be solar screen, if so it needs to cover the whole window area to be effective. What many people are doing is covering the whole area or take the screen off completely. Most homes on the market for sale have the screens removed and the new owners do not put them back on the windows. People are not sitting on their front porch or out in the front yard, unless they live on acres out in the country. During the spring and summer, hang three or four flowering baskets along the front. Plant a couple of seasonal flowers on the other side of the steps. Congratulations on your new home!

Dingle Hopper - We are aware and have different screens to put on the windows. This is a very old home with older windows so it needs screens to help with bugs and debri.

Groveraxle - I could get rid of the shutters but to me a brick home looks so drab without shutters! I was thinking of painting them black and the front door black.

Tiny shutters on great big windows look silly, IMO. Black shutters would be worse, drawing even more attention to the fact that they're undersized.

Sorry but I really don't care for your new planting bed on the left. I think partly cause there is SO MUCH curbing. I think removing some of that and extending the planting on the right to the walk would help but of course we can't see the whole picture so no offense meant. Removing the shutters would help too.

Love Dig Doug’s design. I would definitely paint that iron support post black. If you put a bench under that window, black also.

I'd look at creating more naturalistic rock borders on your beds and walkway, then painting the door maybe charcoal or green.

I would curve the edging around from front window to meet walkway as in some of the photos posted. Keep any shrub or rose brush low growing to not hide front door. Mirror planting beds on either side. Flowering ground cover and Annuals depend on what thrives in your area. Plan perennials for year round color like spring bulbs and fall mums. Then you would only need a few annuals each season. Hiding the flowery ironwork would only take a few trim boards to frame around it and a bit of paint. You could add decorative house numbers to it. A couple sample jars of paint would be enough to bright front door.

Be sure to not build up planting bed or mulch past the brick weep holes on house or you could get floor water in house.