A quickie, super inexpensive thing to make those arches go away is paint them same color as brick.

The modern farmhouse look might be a challenge to achieve since those are wood and yours is brick, but the white with black accents is one way to address it, although many say never paint brick, especially in snow climate local like yours. https://www.networx.com/article/the-problem-with-painting-a-brick-house

Oops posted same time, same idea.

First things first--Paint those arches a color that blends with the bricks. That will minimize their appearance, as would planting an ornamental tree on each side of the driveway that will spread in front of them.

The board and batten siding should not go all the way to the garage door on the bottom edge. There should be a high board running across the bottom 8" to 10" to frame the top of the door, and I'd fill the area above it with a different surface material.

Longer term, you could explore a pergola over the doors.

A brighter front door would be more inviting.

That's not a farmhouse; don't kludge it up as one. Live with what it is and look around your neighborhood for ideas on similar houses.

Weathy - jinx! ;-)

I agree that modern farmhouse will be tough to pull off......it usually looks worse when you try to force a home to be something it isn’t. I also wouldn’t paint the brick.

Change the door and paint a bright color. Choose a metal accent color (brown or black) and replace the lighting with something more current. Get rid of the light, planter and the numbers between the arches - don’t accentuate.

i woild replace the white exterior light fixtures with dark bronze carriage house type fixtures. a larger one for sure at garage. Add a trellis or small ornamental tree at side of garage and change out your builder grade shrubs that aren't adding much impact. new door and sidelites in wood would be my choice.

maybe this?

or this?

And add the carriage hardware to the garage doors.

I'm also not suggesting that you paint the brick so don't let this image fool you... What I am suggesting though is the possibility of adding the board and baton siding ONLY to the front entry door wall so it mimics what is happening over the garage doors...then add new lighting, new wood front door which would stand out from the white wall around it. I don't think your house needs windows with grilles. Just keep it simple.

Modern farmhouse isn't going to work with your architecture. The focal point of your house is your double garage simply because it's so far in front of your house. If this were my house I would build a big front porch to visually bring the house forward. I would build porch the same level as your existing small porch, make it the full width of your house and add really wide steps. As a second phase you could add a pergola to give it more presence. As for the dreaded arches, I think paint will only camouflage up to a point. What if you skirted your front window on the right with a stone veneer and used a little of the same stone to straighten out those arches? Or, what if you built a small overhang of some kind overtop of your garage and covered the arches? Another small improvement is to replace your lighting with something larger scale and in oil rubbed bronze. Good luck!

I agree with painting the arches to make them less noticeable. Windows with grids would add some interest but you don't want to get too busy with adding something like a 6 over 6 window. If you're interested in seeing some virtual makeovers showing different style windows, etc. check my web site, Creative Visual Concepts.

First, have the garage arches painted to match the color of the house. If it still looks ugly to you, a smooth stucco treatment may work. I do not see any “modern farmhouse” elements on your house.

Thank you everyone. I agree- painting the arches the same as the brick would be a good cheap "quick fix" for now. I love the idea of the extended porch and the pergola. Both of these were ideas I was considering as well as an eventually project. The other side of the garage is a cement walkway between our house and our neighbours, unfortunately, so we can't plant on that side unless we can put it in a planter.

The big front window bothers me as it dominates the front. We are looking to switch it out with maybe same-tone coloured windows (instead of white) with either a large grille pattern (8 or 10 mullions per window) or with the grille along the top 1/4 only, and matching up top windows to go along with what we decide on the bottom.

Does anyone know what architectural style this might be called to help me hone in my ideas? Is there a name for 1980's box?

have you thought about painting the underside of the eaves in a darker color so they aren't so visible? Switch out your exterior lighting to something darker. consider painting your window trim in a Urbane Bronze color (would work for the eaves too)

this pic will give you an idea of how a darker charcoal color looks w/your color of brick.

tried a few combos on your door. Also showed you what a darker garage door would look like.

for those arches, you could look into having a mason fill those in w/the same brick. Or, maybe do a cedar shake/shingle.

crappy photoshop, but wood color shingles or board and batten, darker garage doors, and your front door w/side lite. I also moved your address and put in a better light between the garage doors. stick w/darker tones.

the arbor is a nice idea too. something like they've done here (but not in white)

some other front door combos. those white garage doors are just too white!

Your house looks a little bit prairie style to me, so that's the direction I took it:

looks good grover. I wanted to trim out the windows but can't do it from my end.