I think the new door is a good idea and once spring comes get to work on the landscaping that will help a lot.

I'm with tangerinedoor. I should not be able to see your neighbor's house through the space below your porch.

That floating porch also makes the columns look fake. Even if they are just decorative, they should give the illusion of being functional. But the ones on each end are floating on air (and the one on the left is too far to the left; it should not be hanging off the edge of the porch. I also think that the one on the right is going to induce a water damage problem by sitting too close to the wall; that space will stay damp. I'd bring the left one in in line with the end of the house and bring the right one in the same amount.

The “railroad tie area” is a koi pond. So I believe we can’t do anything to make that look “prettier “. As for the floating porch their was lattice underneath that I despised so I removed it with the intention of replacing it with something more updated but I don’t know what that could be. There is no water by the columns but I can admit it looks like it’s not blending in with the design.

I am liking the pop of white against your home with your upgraded pillars, but think you should remove the dark shutters. I think a big upgrade to your exterior would be to bulk up the trim around all your windows and the trim around your front door and paint them white too. I know that you said the garage door is new, so maybe repeat that colour in a new front door.
Yes, address if there are safety concerns/codes about your porch and think about some changes to landscaping.

A koi pond can go anywhere and what you need is a walkway to the front door from the street .

I think something's getting confused here. Lattice is generally cosmetic. Keeping it or getting rid of it doesn't change the foundation of the porch.

The biggest problem with the porch is not cosmetic. It's about functionality and safety.

Right now, the porch looks unsafe: it looks like it's being held up at one end with a couple of small pieces of old lumber. It dips precariously. It looks like the whole thing is about to collapse. It will take the porch roof, columns, and everything with it. The porch needs more underpinnings.

Also, are those columns holding up the porch roof? Yikes.

******

The home inspector didn't catch the porch foundation issues when you bought the house? Hmmm.... This would worry me, 'cos it's so obvious just looking at the house.

Post some "inspiration photos" of the kind of thing you'd like to have your house look like. It's easier for posters to help you out that way.

But, first things first: infrastructure, not cosmetics.

If you find the koi pond ugly, just get rid of it. Otherwise, conceal the railroad ties with plantings.

Thank you everyone for your advice. There is a walkway between the koi pond and porch. It’s pavers that we added since purchasing. As far as the infrastructure the inspector never said it wasn’t solid. Also we had someone come stain the deck since purchase and they also never said it was anything wrong. I will post some inspirational pics as soon as I can find them.

This is house initially looked

1) Fix any structural issues with the porch.

2) No shutters on the double and triple windows on the first floor.

3) Wider shutters on the second floor windows.

4) Wider white trim on the second floor windows to match the first floor.

5) Brick or stacked stone to replace the lattice that was removed.

6) Current color looks good but just about any color would look good (tan, white, blue, sage green, etc.).

7) Put up railing on porch. Building codes require a railing if the change in elevation is greater than 30", which yours definitely is.

8) Landscaping to finish the look.

If you're interested in seeing some virtual makeovers of your home check out my web site, Creative Visual Concepts.

Agree w above poster that you need a cohesive color scheme + thought given to what colors get placed where. As is, everything is too willy nilly and youve got too many colors going on - blue gray roof, earthier greens, red, I would get rid of the white ( too stark-looks like unpainted pieces that have been primed and need to be painted) in favor of something beigier that relates better to roof and siding and does a better job unifiying the existing color.

Yknow, people, I think the wonky look of the porch is due mostly to the angle which the pic was taken.

I love existing color. I would leave the shutters and bring some pop of color for both doors.

Not sure if I like it, something is not finished look.

May be something like this?

I think less modern steps would look better.

I will be honest and tell you, yes I like your beefier columns you put on, but, the house looked a whole lot better in the before picture. Without those railings, that porch is an accident waiting to happen. The lattice finished it off, so it didnt look unfinished and a bit tacky. I do like your darker colored shutters and your garage doors. A new front door to match would look very nice. Right now, it looks like a very unfinished porch.

With railing

with no shutters and wide white trim

More idea

I think the columns need to get tied in color-wise to the rest of the house. To me, the white looks like waaaay too white, and it's not integrated with the rest of the house. If you're gonna do white, I would add more white somewhere else on the house.

Also, as someone mentioned upthread, the column on the left is too close to the edge (safety issue), and the one on the right competes with the wall.

I'm in agreement with @tangerinedoor - the white is way too white. I like the black shutters upstairs, perhaps the columns would look better painted a darker color tool The front porch definitely needs some sort of railing.

I'm not always the biggest shutter fan, but the photo posted above with the upstairs ones removed I don't think improved the look - the windows are so much smaller than the first floor, that the shutters balance them out.

I think you need some pops of color. I'd like to see the shutters and front door, and maybe the garage - painted the same color - could be a navy or turquise or teal or something. Not sure I agree with the orange color - great color, but I think it's not far enough different in tone/value from the beige/taupe siding.

I think some balance can be brought to the look if the column on the far left was continued under the porch - even if just for looks without support - so it looked more structural/balanced. Then if you plan to add something decorative under there later, the column would blend in nicely and keep that look of the porch being supported.

Perhaps also on the window to the right of the front door - also smaller than the one on the left - a window box may complement the look as well by adding a bit of weight to the look of the smaller window vs. the larger windows in the left. Would add a bit of balance. If painted in your door/shutter blue color will work especially good with plants - the blue looks great with green leaves of plants...

Each of these ideas would be fairly simple and cheap to do, then re-evaluate before making other major changes that would up your cost.

Celerygirl is showing some great ideas. It's a shame you came to Houzz after you removed so many structural and landscaping features that worked with your house. We would've talked you out of a lot of it, like don't take off a porch railings or removing landscaping to look at from the porch just because you didn't like the lattice. Now the focus is on those railroad ties. Avoid approaching things piecemeal. Now the house looks so stripped down, like a Before house whereas the original looked like the After. The add-ons, like the shutters just remuddle the whole thing. You need an overall plan going forward. Relocate the koi pond away from the front. Absolutely fix the structural problems then concentrate on a landscaping plan that enhances your house.

Was the koi pond part of what made you buy the house?

I think it is tough to determine if there are structural issues just from a photo. But it definitely looks too lightweight visually with the open bottom below porch. Porch railing and brick or artificial stone below the porch could make it look lot more grounded . If there is a way to add landscaping below the porch, I'd go that route too, even if it requires shifting the walkway. If you like the koi pond, keep it, just figure out how to landscape around it. If you keep the black shutters on top, maybe find a way to balance with more black on lower level.

I think I'd like to see the white trim around the windows painted the same color as your garage door, along with the columns and railing celerygirl proposed and the window box suggestion. I like either the red door or a turquoise-ish door for a pop of color. I think I'd paint the shutters the same color as the garage door, too. Or do the reverse, and paint all the trim, railings, columns, and garage door black. I feel like there's too much competing for attention.

I agree that landscaping will help soften everything, including the railroad ties. You have a beautiful first home; congratulations! It would be a good idea to have someone out to look at the porch. If you have someone out to quote the price of moving columns, ask about the structural integrity of the porch while they are there, and what it would cost to correct (assuming the slope is more than just a camera angle).

the porch is common with the sloped yard, and the shutters look nice. Cleaning up that front yard and possibly building a retaining wall on the left front corner might soften the slope of the yard. Removing the lattice was a great idea.

I don't think there's an issue with the porch. Look at where the porch floor meets the house. Now look up at the bottom of the first course of siding. Follow it across from left to right and you'll see that there's a consistent spacing between the two all the way across. Now look at the grouping of three windows directly behind the firepit and you can really see the illusion here. I think this corner just looks weird because of a combo of where the person taking the pic was standing, and the fact that cell phone cameras do weird distortion things like this. The porch does *appear* to be held up with 4x4 posts, but it's impossible to know from this pic at this angle.

If it's in the budget, I'd bring in a landscape designer. Even if it's just a sketch consultation, they can help you prioritize and get a sense of what's working and what isn't.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><md>Landscaping landscaping landscaping.... hire a landscape architect and come up with a cohesive plan. Landscape is arguably single most important visual element that is the first thing everyone sees when they pull up and sets the tone for the whole house. So many do their landscaping as an afterthought. Skip the lattice unless you’re gonna plant something to grow over it (climbing hydrangea, confederate jasmine

I just completed a remodel on the exterior of my house which, before the remodel, looked a lot like yours (including the sloping down one side). Like yours, my house also had a long and narrow front porch with lots of columns. I started by going through Houzz’s extensive collection of front porches and pulling out the ones that had elements that I liked. I found that I liked front porches with a larger front door (with side lights), a gabled porch cover that extended slightly from the house, and chunkier bottoms on the columns (especially ones clad with stone or brick). I also pulled the entire porch out by about six feet and adding stone flower boxes all the way down the entire front of the house. This helped with the weird fall away on the one side. Like you I added shutters, but unlike you, I added them to both the upper and lower windows on my house. I also changed out the very dated and energy inefficient windows on the first floor. As you can see from the before and (mostly) after pics below. Unfortunately, the new windows on the house were added after these pictures so they are not reflected here (I’m actually waiting for spring before I take a new set of pictures), but I hope you get the idea of what was accomplished.

Btw, I own an architectural sheet metal company which drove the decisions for the columns and metalwork on the porch. I also added some lighting so the porch also looks amazing at night.

Beautiful!!