What zone are you located in? Also can you post a few more pictures. Right away I see you need to paint the front door. is that a cement pad on the right?

I'm in los angeles. My husband stained the front door that dark brown color but I don't like it either. Yes..cement pad on the right. It's where our water shut off is. I'll take some more pics...this one was from google!

Nice house. Yes, better pics would help. I’d remove the stone border around the tree to the right for a more natural look. Landscaping will go a long way toward improving your home.

I know the landscaping is atrocious. We had tons to do inside.

The landscaping could be much worse, believe me!

The lot with the tear-down -- do you know what will be going in? If a large 2 or multi-story building, will it cast more shade onto your planting areas? that would impact your planting selections.

The stone patio doesn't seem large enough to serve any purpose. Either enlarge it to allow for sitting, or if that doesn't appeal to you, remove part to allow for plantings.

If it needs to stay, even if just for now, get some large, colorful pots to arrange along it. Matching or similar taller ones for either side of the door, a shorter wider one for under the window, and another taller one or two for the right end (one centered in the space, the other placed at the end to define the end). They wouldn't all have to match, but be similar in feel and colors. Put a mix of flowering plants and interesting leaf textures in them.

I would pick a brighter color for the door and coordinate with the pots (again, do not have to match)

some ideas:

Thank you! I wish I could do this...digitally.

What color door would you suggest? And what about shutters??

No shutters.I think you should add a horizontal fence and do planting in front of it, with simple planting and some large pots in by the house. The lines of the house are not asking for a lot of fluff in the planting.

Living in LA, I'd seriously consider landscaping that did not include a traditional lawn. In an extended drought environment like all of SoCal, lawns are a needless waste of resources! I'd do more hardscaping and focus on drought tolerant plantings.

Or some kind of

We were actually thinking of making a double driveway so we can fit our cars side by side so that will eliminate the grass on the left at least. Similar to the pic above.

@celerygirl What program do you use to add the stone and greenery?

I would widen the gable, add more hardscape, remove that palm and trim the rest of the plants in front of the windows, add a bit of color, and change or paint the front door:

I use Photoshop. Ohhhhhh I forgot to add door.

some additional ideas:

It's a cute house and the hardscape is nice. I'd plant some flowering plants in your gravel by the path. As for the collection of shrubbery to the left of the door, I can't tell what it is. It looks kind of crowded and overgrown. Figure out what you like, whether the overgrown stuff can be pruned and go from there. If you replace the lawn to the left of the path with driveway, the driveway will overwhelm your house.

@sigrid Good idea on the gravel path. Also, I hear you on the driveway expansion. We have an issue with the width of our driveway though. The garage is in the back of the house and too narrow for our cars to get back there. Therefore, I thought for convenience as well as resale, it might be good to expand it so 2 cars can park side by side. I guess that's for another thread though! Thanks for the ideas.

3 years later we finally took @celery’s advice! My husband did it all himself. Thank you all!