Your house is really nice. I don't see that adding a gable or portico would add anything. Looks like you have a nice front porch that could be dressed up. Also, what are your thoughts on shutters i.e. like them or not?

You really have a very nice porch..Water Tower

This is a house in my neighborhood that looked very similar to yours before they redid the porch posts. Sorry it's so grainy, didn't want to alarm the neighbors taking a picture of their house. They replaced the small posts as you have with farmhouse kind of posts. They also made the front door a larger double door. They actually cut it larger as I recall but you could probably do the same thing by removing the sidelights.

The shutters aren't really appropriate with your double windows. If you want to make a major change and can find brick similar to yours, you could remodel with large single windows and then lime or whitewash the brick so it is all unified. That's a tall order financially though. You don't need a gable or portico, so the money saved could go toward making your place more like the one tozmo1 shows below. Some brick removed to lower the windows could be used to fill in the walls either side of the new windows. Just be sure any new brick is similar enough in texture and color to yours so it will paint up to match. I would use Hardie siding if I were you, and I suggest a front walk out to the front curb.

Your brick is a really nice feature. I agree the windows aren't sized right for shutters. A sage green like the Saybrook Sage from houssaon would work nicely with your brick. The roof color should be factored in, and Saybrook Sage would work with it, too. Sage green with a soft white trim is usually a great combination.

Shutters don't work on any of your windows so I would remove and not reinstall them. I also think your brick is fine. It looks like the lightest color of some of the brick was used on the siding. I would do the new siding in a darker color and a wider profile, and also paint the sidelights on the front door the same color as the trim. The black is way too dark for that area.

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

Thank you everyone for all your feedback and input! This is our first home and its a big financial decision for us! Therefore, what are your thoughts on color? We were thinking Colonial White, Midnight Blue, Cypress, Flagstone (All Certaineed colors), but don't want to fall into today's trends that might cycle out in 5 years...thus leaving us with a color that is a thing of the past.

Thoughts?

Not sure if it is just the photo or if it's in real life but it looks like there is some sag in your roof joists. I think I would have that checked out and corrected as part of your renovation.

Hi, I don't recall, are you keeping the same roof? I like flagstone the best but not sure if it would work with your current roof. Sort of hard to tell for sure from a picture.

It looks like Certainteed has a color visualizer that you can upload a picture of your house and try various colors. https://colorview.certainteed.com/

Paint your brick! Get rid of the shutters. Paint the supports same color as the brick to blend. New front door. Ferns.