If you remove the vertical siding at the porch entrance that would open up the area. Then carry that slope roof line all the way over to the left side of the house with open beams, rebuilding the porch to extend all the way over to the left side also would balance the front. I would then paint posts and beams white and shutters and door a 3rd color. You really have to decide what you want your curb appeal to be, cottage or more modern, as to how you redesign the front of your home. It has wonderful possibilities.

Keep the clutter to a minimum by scanning all your paper when you're finished with it. I use PaperPort Professional 14. Simple to organize. Get an HP laser MFP & don't look back, spend about $5-600 so it lasts a long time. I have all personal & professional documents since 2004 & can locate anything quickly. Back up, of course. No filing cabinets ever again. Use that space for something pretty, fun & interesting. Bring your work area way forward into the room with perhaps a round table & chairs. I can understand wanting to stay by the window & I'd do the same. I have many reference binders & am scanning them too into OneNote--binders on steroids. Have fun.

How wonderful of you to come and share - we love to celebrate progress, and you know, I really think it IS smashing! The banding is in the perfect place, the vertical board and batten above on the center section - wowsa!!! The cobblestone is a lovely, classic shade and since your roof is a lighter gray, keeps the whole house feeling balanced . .. and though I haven't read back for all I suggested, I think you did get a lot more prairie feeling out of this altogether and that door works just fine. Prairie inspiration is .. .of course is where I think you should head for the front steps . . closer to your first image . . . . I'd like to see them come out beyond the plane of the house face before the steps . taking the steps wider than the recess to the door .. .let me find you some images My prescription for your front stoop - Bring a landing at door level out past the front plane of the house (see construction notes below) - but not symmetrically - take it only to the left of the front door (use 1/2 the distance between the corner of the house and the center window) so that the high roof / board and batten area is open at the base / unencumbered by any "stair" in front of it . . You would have a landing area in front of the house at the "top step level" that carries you all the way to the front door. In winter that flat area will stay more clear of snow except some drifts and be an easy platform to push out .. you can put a very gentle 1% slope away from the house on the landing - even crown it so it drains forward / to the channels that carry all the drainage out . . then you will only have 2-3 steps or so out at past the edge of the eave - no railing needed. I can sketch this in more detail for you on the weekend if you like the ideas / need one. You can miter the bottom step to wrap back to the sides of the other steps and catch the foundation channel drain concrete because it will be low and not interfere with the visual of the major landing form .. In the recess, you can hold the concrete back from the siding = but only above the foundation . form a 4" channel between the siding and the landing around the perimeter against the foundation (so for the perimeter where the "stairs and landing "meet" the house, there is 4" where the concrete stops down below at "foundation height" and the base of the channel is sloped so it drains forward and then to the left along the face of the house on the left - into the planting bed on the right . ..). . . . For the high end look, then fill that "channel" against the siding with large river rock in a combination of the natural cobblestone tones of the siding. This allows the siding to breathe and be replaced by the next folks, but allows you to raise the grade of this landing to the door level through the recess and in front of the house in a decorative way. ... The face of the bottom step will now "define" the "line" of front foundation plantings .. do these too a little more formal / separating them from the organic feel in the front beds with a fat / flat 6" wide row of the same river rock immediately adjacent the walk to the driveway and beyond the stairs turning back to the corner of the house . . define a "front bed" with river rocks on the ground . . between them and the house .. . something low on the right/ now I suggest don't hide the low banding . use the same element planted in perfect spacing that matches the plane of the center, higher roofline . can skip the low window and put flatter 'groundcover' there and in front of the matching 30" high elements . .then to the left of the stairs and landing, something asymmetrical, more cottagey, organic, sprawling under the big window in the living room (abelia grandiflora comes to mind but right for your zone - a flowering shrub with "shooting" architecture) and off to the left, you can do something taller / open with an accent color .. like a punctuation mark between the window and the corner of the house . . repeat the groundcover from the right in the rest of that bed to fill back to the rock border .. . On both sides of the path to the front door, repeat the flat river rock "border" immediately adjacent to the walk - it will visually widen it / give it more presence, but tie it all together .. .(you can put weed cloth under the river rock and an edger if you want no maintenance there). . . here's an image to show the result of a rock border - I suggested earth toned rock as a more cottagey feeling, but if you want a more contemporary feel, you can use black river rock for higher visual contrast . . When /if ever you are ready to repaint front door - I would try a faded blue jean blue to echo the blue that the gray roof reflects from the sky . instead of worrying over the color of the roof, just repeat it in a pretty way in one spot and it will all come together . it will read lighter than red in the recess and be smashing against the cobblestone. . like http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/winterlake or Nantucket fog http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/nantucketfog#ce_s=nantucket fo It will add to the cottage feel I see you have going in the garden and help take the door style in that direction. Heres' that shade on a ceiling so you can see why I think you would love it - light enough to add pow to the recessed space, but still in the sweet cornflower blue family . . a bit deeper of the same tone would be bm black pepper - a terrific denim midtone - you can do a brighter blue but stay in the family of blue that the roof has / sky blues not blue greens If you ever do something on the site like a mailbox surround / entry address "monument" / backyard grill surround / exterior site masonry element, you can do it with the relatively inexpensive manufactured river rock cladding in the same earthy colors to tie it all together . .

Thank you! It is an improvement from the photo I posted a year ago. Landscaping certainly will make a big difference. And I've got some fun ideas for ''art" for the fence that should be fun, too.