It needs new new foundation planting and some street trees.

The brick is flaking and is mismatching from attempts to fix parts, so we are trying to give it a bit of a boost in curb appeal with stone

Love your stone. The portico example from kmg11 looks great. The very palest shade from the stone might also be nice for the siding color. Is a pro landscaper in the budget?

We are most urgently doing the exterior, followed by landscaping this summer sometime. We just took down two big trees so that is definitely on the list.

I would remove the front brick and side the entire front. You could always install the stone on just the fireplace. The house will look less squatty. My husband and I just did this on our cottage and it looks so much better. Not to mention, that moisture was getting behind the brick after years of exposure.

As an artist the lines and contrast of the photo caught my eye. It would make a good b&w or sepia print.
Don't go for the cheaper trendy fix of painted brick. Stone though expensive will add more character than flat paint. A navy or sage green door would add nice contrast with the light siding and a midtone stone. Grey would be blah to me but a deep charcoal ir black would be classic. Some bulbs and perennials could add seasonal color with a couple evergreens for year round interest. You might could disguise the brick flaws with evergreen shrubs yntil.you replace it with stone.

I don't think adding stone to the bottom would help, rather if you painted the entire house one color and the trim another it would be more attractive. I'm don't like the added porch with the railings on the house below but I do think that an attractive low wood deck or large concrete slab at the entrance of your house would be a good feature. As for landscaping I would keep it simple as your house has very contemporary straight lines. Before making suggestions I would need to know which way you use to enter your house - is it from inside the garage ? Where do visitors enter your home ? It appears that you are set back from a street/roadway .
Can you make a photo from across the street and center the house in the middle so one can get a good perspective ?

BTW if you like the colors used on the above house they are :

Trim - Kelly Moore 23 Swiss Coffee

Shutters - Kelly Moore 407 Carbon

Stucco - Benjamin Moore HC-167 Amherst Grey

Brick & Garage Doors - Benjamin Moore HC-166 Kendall Charcoal

Here is a view from the front. We usually use the entry by the garage. Interesting idea about the area between the doors... it is currently rocks and some perennials.... hard to see much in the winter;)

A much better view and a good looking house. I couldn't see your entry in the other photo and now I see that you have two . Would visitors use the second entry or the same one that you do ? You may have a path leading there from the garage that I can't see in the photo. Here's the same house that I posted above in lighter colors . It has a bottom brick apron painted in a little darker color than the body. I'm not loving the landscaping however-too mishmash and fussy. I could make suggestions if I knew how much area you have in front and whether you want to keep a lawn or not, keep that tree, etc. In my opinion its best to keep the landscaping simple so that the contemporary staight lines of your home are not hidden .

this example is almost identical to what you're doing. Why not do a darker siding and save the white for the trim work?

If you must do the white siding, then try Urbane Bronze or Black Fox for all of the trim. the light and dark contrast will add some depth

I think that white is too stark next to the tans/cream tones of your stone.

here's a little mock up with the stone, gray door, wood garage doors

Imagine if you had a dark tone like this one:

I love the colors and contrast on the medium, warm gray shade. Bronze windows.

This is what your garage doors need to look like

It's easy to add the black hardware and the row of windows to existing doors.

another photo shop using a dark blue/black front door and painted brown garage doors.

If you went with a sage and cream paint colors like shown here, it might look better w/your stone

This combo looks better than the white. (unless your stone is actually whiter than what is photographed)

Make the entrance more prominent by adding cheekwalls and a larger landing at the base of the steps. Probably needs a wider walk though we can't see it. Though I can't show it, I agree with others that it would be better if not white siding. Then the white trim would stand out. I think that the front is brick is inconsequential. Seems like it could work as well left as is. Windows in garage doors would help.

Here were some of the color combos we were playing with... I honk the rock is more grey than cream or tan.
-I sort of like the dark one (1 or 2) because if feels a little Nordic, though it is “Iron Gray” which in person is not as dark as I liked.
-4 feels sort of boring (?).
-3 is more keeping the white we have and just doing stone, feels more farmhouse tones?

Is there an artistic rationale for windows on the garage? Or is it more just a trend or preference (just curious, bc we ironically just replaced our garage doors bc they were rotting at the bottom, I am kicking myself right now).

I like the idea of the sconces too

"Is there an artistic rationale for windows on the garage?"

Of course there is. It looks better! Not only is there an artistic reason, but there is a functional one, too. It lets natural light into the garage so you can see where you're going without turning on the light. No garage door expert here, but since they are created of panel sections, I'd imagine one could easily swap out a top section for one that had windows ... without changing a whole garage door.

Consider that once you install planting, a great deal of the brick you have now wouldn't show. When it's stone, it still won't show. Seems hardly worth it to me.

I vote for your sample #4. You can't go wrong with gray with white trim. We painted both of our homes this color and we get so many compliments, and it is timeless. The red door will be stunning, although blue or yellow would look great too,

The garage doors definitely look better with windows. It can really make a difference, especially with a front-facing garage.

Consider that once you install planting, a great deal of the brick you have now wouldn't show. When it's stone, it still won't show. Seems hardly worth it to me.

-Agree with this statement. I would want the best bang for my buck! Since your house doesn't have the advantage of height, two surfaces can look a bit choppy. Sometimes simplicity is better.

-If the stone is an absolute, I would pick a shade from the stone for the siding to blend. Think about too, a dark color with a dark roof might add to a squatty look. For that reason, I like lighter.

-For the garage door, I would paint it the same as siding, putting the focus on the front door.

-yes to sconces :)

This is a close up on the brick.... which is why we are leaning towards replacing vs leaving...

some ideas:

will you be replacing the chimney brick also?

Keith- yes, all brick is going

Any ideas on how to incorporate a small area of cedar or tigerwood (or lighter color wood, not sure what kind to use?) such as one of these below to a portion of the exterior?

The challenge is that the house is essentially flat/ one plane.... so not sure if we could make it work?