There's a lot of empty mulch, and you have a lovely home that's obviously well cared for, but ironically, the overall impression is one of neglect/overgrowth. First thing I'd do is yank out those scraggly bushes flanking the walk. Then limb up/prune the tree on the right a touch to give a clear view to the house (what kind of tree is that, btw? Walnut, pecan?). Yeah, definitely time to clean the path, and the brick too while you're at it! Nothing like a little cleaning to spruce things up!

Those two "arms" of the garden bed that go to the middle of the sidewalk cause a visual bottleneck. Consider converting those skinny arms back to lawn, and making the garden bed against the house the main landscaping, therefore drawing the eye up the path to the house instead of stopping the gaze halfway. You may also want to consider removing the bedding edging, as it's not doing the job of containing the mulch. (Personally I like trench edges directly against the grass, though it is labor intensive with a manual half-moon edger...sod cutting/edging machinery is also an option)

A grand/sculptural entry suggests formal to me, which would suggest some symmetrical evergreens with a limited palette of flowering shrubs/perennials to bring in color. Not necessarily a creative solution, but it works! And it looks like the right side of your house is on its way in that direction anyway! :)

Connect the curves, & expand the width to the entry across the entire porch front, graduated in plant height., low to high on the walkway, then low to high across the front. Remove the tall mid way shrubs/trees ( they say 'keep out' right now) and possible to move them to either side of the entry steps? A big chance to take for their survival tho. Your zone offers a ton of vegetation choices. Soften the rigidity.

Whatever you plant at the front of the steps is going to hide those boulders. Which makes them pointless. Move them close in and forward (and possibly stand the right one up by embedding it part way in the dirt).

And, yes, get rid of the overgrowth halfway down. It looks neglected.

This is fantastic input! This was the landscape “vision” (yikes) of the previous owners. In contrast, here is a photo of the landscape before they made the changes a few years ago. Pretty huge difference!

Both "visions" pretty awful.

Exactly! We are the new homeowners and are ready to give it a new life!

Lining a sidewalk with stuff and planting tall stuff in front of the house are both difficult to get right. Focus on right up at the house/steps, planting things to lead the eye to the front door.

Another consideration is not to get plantings too close to the house/steps/sidewalk. You have plenty of room to spread out.

some ideas:

You said you like a grand entrance. Nothing says formal and grand like garden symmetry. I like Dig Doug's stone columns at the street entrance to your walkway. Also like the symmetry of same plantings on both sides of walkway. I would also add clipped curved hedges to give the garden beds structure.

You could line the walkway on both sides with low hedges or something else that is low. Here are some examples.

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Thanks so much to everyon! Dig Doug- I’m loving this concept and visual!

I realize this is not what you're asking about, but I think opening the gable, adding lighting and your new landscape would make a huge difference. This first open gable and brick reminded me of your home, so I thought I would post it as a suggestion for something you can do to increase the impact of the house. A front deck is not unheard of these days.

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Veteran's Retreat - covered porch · More Info

If you want more specific feedback on a direction to go in, get rid of the two shrubs that block the view. (If they're useful, maybe you can transplant them somewhere.) Then completely rephotograph the scene, taking a panorama of slightly overlapping pictures so we can see the whole view at once. One camera location should be the same as your first picture of the thread. A second camera position would be between the large shrubs that were removed. Each camera position would be several overlapping pictures that show from lot line to lot line (where the neighboring houses show as part of the background.)

The walk itself helps to emphasize the entrance. Flanking it with plantings usually doesn't, especially if the plantings have any height. Usually, they contribute to obstructing the entrance or making the walk feel like a cattle path at the slaughterhouse.