Playing around a little on my phone. What about a yellow door and some charcoal gray pots flanking the garage door with pops of yellow?

I definitely want to remove the current plant between the windows. And the brown would be raised berm (sp?) beds with NW plants.

Opinions?

Anyone?

Wow thank you motownmom! Great ideas and suggestions! Ill work on a new mock up, but in the meantime I wanted to share this image as my inspiration for plants. Would a yellow door still work with these plants or what about a purple?

Is this what you mean about the garden?

I agree about moving the current shrub to the left side of the house, although I hadn't considered that before. My husband was set on tearing it out because its always grabbing at the house and growing up into the siding.

Oops image:

Kari, can you remove that corner bush? Also, put in dark green, full foundation plants across the front to the door.

Paint the garage door blue to match the house?

Yellow door was so good that I did not even notice it at first. The pic just looked better.

Judyg - did you mean to remove it in the picture? I'm using an app to do this and it won't let me cover it up because its too dark. If anybody has a program and wants to do it for me, I'd be tickled! If you meant to remove it, I plan too. :)

I just realized my inspiration link didn't work. Here it is:

What about a high gloss charcoal for the door?

I'd paint the door a navy and add navy shutters to the windows. The exterior lights should match the roof color.

Like this color?

And any suggestions for style to replace the lights with?

I'm looking at a brochure I picked up at Home Depot, Behr brand exterior paints, there's a color combo like your house the "accent" color listed is Terra Cotta Sun ECC-34-3d, looks like a brick red. That might do the trick for the door.

Here's the brochure online, but the colors might not be exact as you view on your screen http://www.behr.com/cma/VCC/brochurepdfs/exterior.pdf

I agree with Elaine! I saw shutters immediately! You need to consider getting screens to cover the entire windows, instead of only half...that just looks odd. It's hard to tell by the lighting in the pic, but it looks like there are about 5 different colors going on here. Pick a shutter/trim color, then paint the rest of the house to contrast/compliment that. No more than 3 colors though. If you want your front door to stand out, bright red is always a good choice! I would suggest black shutters, Slate grey paint, fully screened windows, keep the white trim (or if you choose to paint what's white, you may want to go with a very light dove grey color instead of stark white) inside windows and garage door or clean/paint the door to match the trim inside windows, & vent above garage door,and buy a black hardware kit to decorate the garage door (about 7.95 at Home Depot) and a bright red door with new light fixtures in black, as well as front door hardware kit in black to match everything else. As far as your landscaping, I'm personally a huge fan of xeriscaping with river stones and crushed granite and using native plants to conserve water! Good Luck!

The house is vinyl siding and can't be painted. House is light blue, white vinyl trim around windows and garage door and gray gutters.

Ok, then I would still go with black shutters and any other trim that can be painted. And still think a bright red door would look great.

The last landscaping cut out to almost end of drive is a good layout you have a good eye

Maybe paint your coach lights

Hello, PNW! I'd paint the door yellow (as we know, Permacloud is here for 8-9 months, so that would make the door stand out). A can of spray paint or two would fix the light fixtures. Silver or black, I would think. I would just take out the big bush unless you really love it and want to try to transplant to the left side of the house. I have two thoughts....

One is to create a curved bed that starts at the "L" in your front walkway, and ends at the left side of the house. Lay out a hose to get an idea of a sort of undular shape.

Second, is to create a front courtyard, since there is no porch, which is very popular. Depends on your neighborhood! You could run a short decorative fence...picket sections, or an open wood design...from the same spot (the "L") across the front. It wouldn't need to turn and run back to the house necessarily. Take out the grass, do plantings by the fence and the house, bark the rest for now. Put a couple of chairs and a table out there for summer.

Plants: If in either of the valleys in WA or OR, we have an incredible nursery industry here, and can grow almost everything except tropicals. A few of my favorites are nandina, pierus japonica (also called andromeda), daphne odora (because I love things that smell good). Most rhododendrens are going to get too big to plant right along the front without pruning. Evergreen (not deciduous) azaleas would be a substitute. Don't plant anything now, just plan. All the nurseries have fantastic sales in the fall, and it's a good time to plant when the rain sets in, but before it freezes. Perennials are also on sale...they won't look like much, but will be great the next year. If you choose a yellow door, coreopsis or rudbeckia (Black Eyed Susans), or daylilies would be pretty to work in between the shrubs.

Kari, I forgot to echo the recommendation of Endless Summer hydrangeas. Remembering that they lose leaves each year (and thus become sticks in the winter) you could also work those around/between the evergreen plants. They are very reliable, and just a beautiful blue.

Thank you all! I just can't get excited about that terra cotta color or red. I think I'll decide between yellow and charcoal in high gloss.

Nwduck - thank you for all your ideas. We are planning to do this all early fall this year so at least we got that right!

Being an Oregon Duck, you had to know I would recommend yellow! A dark door isn't going to stand out much, recessed as it is. If you are in the Portland area, I recommend Loen's Nursery. They have a big commercial nursery as well as a retail nursery. Towards the fall they move a lot of their commercial stock into the retail section, and you can get some pretty mature plants for 1/2 or less the normal cost.

We agree with Donna and Elaine P! We immediately envisioned shutters when we laid eyes on your home. The front looks a bit bare and adding shutters will not only add curb appeal but will also help you express a bit about your design preference and style! At Timberlane we have a variety of shutter styles and options available for you. we also have the ability to create a custom radial top for the main window. Below are some pictures along with our color options. Also keep in mind that if there is a color that you are absolutely head-over-heels for, we can custom color match any color.

I'd start saving for new siding, or at least a stone edge. All white trims. And buy a new front door, a more open contemporary model with more glass, bright color such as yellow or red, teal maybe. Remove the bush, place a wooden bench instead on a small patio, some pots with perennials nex to it. Low ground covering plants on the left part of the house (rosemary hedge, smells nice too).