Your pictures don't enlarge so it's hard to see your home. Can you post them again here in the comments, please.

It looks like your front door is recessed already???

Do not paint the doors to match the garage doors. Garage doors should blend into the home's siding color not be an accent

Thanks for the suggestion, I’m glad I didn’t paint the doors yet😀. What colour do you suggest I paint the front doors?The shingles are a gray/black combination, although it’s hard to tell in the pictures.

bump

If that is a young Japanese Maple, I would move it 5 to 7 feet away from the house. I doesn't have room to grow. I did with mine. Money well spent.

I like the way your house is now. I don't see how a shed overhang will improve the curb appeal. I would focus on getting a new roof.

Is the roof done? Possible door colors

Benjamin Moore

terra cotta 2090-30

rust 2175-30

Hi, I think I would have extend the porch and the stairs. Then I would create a walkway to the driveway. Move and shape the plants you are keeping. Its not that your house is "sad or unmemorable", its that you need to create interest. If you were to create planters with flowers, or have an interesting showpiece plant, it would keep your eye off of the roofline.

As someone said your pictures do not blow up so it is hard to see details. If the house is grey, then you have many options. Plum, turquoise, red, blue and some greens. Have someone move the red maple and shape it. The land that you have is quite large and you have an itty-bitty walkway. Widen the walkway, change out the light fixture show off your house and beautiful property!

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Funny you should mention planters/ I just brought these home. I like the idea of painting them plum 😃I had an arborist over last year- he said the maple is too big to move, I trimmed it yesterday. I love the picture you posted with a new walkway.

Nice! I had a designer help me with my house. It is painted taupe, slightly darker than yours. My trim is white and my front door is plum. The porch is covered with the roof, so it is naturally darker, so I went through lots of paint samples.

My designer also had me extend my porch - the step into the house 14"-16" beyond the roofline, the next step (to the front yard) is about 25" larger, then you get to the walkway (yard level) which is about 60" or so.

I would consider removing the plant to the right of the door and extend your porch to the left and right and then beyond the roof line. I would keep the lines straight. Personally, I would remove the maple and the tree next to it. I would expose the entire house - you have such a large lot - you want people to think - large lot - large house.

When I bought my house - the only thing you saw was the roof! (people would describe it as - the house with the big roof) So, I used the help of a designer and managed to cut the roof line with some large trees. He also had me do some other things to make the house look large. I'm just passing his advice to you....

Your house is already cute.
If the maple is too big to move, you may need to remove it anyway because it is so close to the house and may interfere with the foundation or the water, or the septic, or the stairs, or the roof, or or or. The sooner the better for removal. If it looks like it can be saved, plant it much further from the house and away from all the systems mentioned above.
Since you must repair the roof before the next rainy season, I would suggest you do your dream roof for your dream home with the cute shed roof and the simple post support, proper gutters and down-spout. That will be one major thing finished for your future dream home! Maybe you do the stairs and the rail, too....or later.
The windows, door and siding and finally, the landscape, can be done bit by bit as you have money saved for each job.

I don’t see any reason you can’t have a budget-version of your dream home right now. Your inspiration photo is so attainable (And I love love it). Replace your roof, but don’t waste your money changing the roof line. Instead, install a modern arbor over the doorway.

A carpenter can build you a very simple arbor- keep it natural cedar or paint. I’m imagining a scale-appropriate version of something like this.

Paint your siding white. Paint your trim and doors charcoal/black. I live in California where “feature” garage doors are kind of thing, because most homes are basically a garage with a house attached to the back. Landscaping is admittedly not my strength...hire a pro. Modern landscaping is minimal by nature, so that shouldn’t be too costly. Your stairs are fine...stain them if you’d like. Splurge on a modern-style front door if you can. Modern light fixture.

what are the roof choices? (or is that the new roof?)

you want to do a black or charcoal asphalt shingle? ( you're getting your home insurance to pay for at least some of this, right? )

it's a cute house (love the modern one you like too) and when the landscaping and trees are all done, you'll be able to actually see it!

I photo shopped your garage area in black, w/wood doors and more modern door painted apple green

just an idea. (and would look great w/a charcoal roof) I feel like for the front window I'd like to do some wood slat siding around it. Or at least around the door.

something like this. you could do the stucco in white (or even black ;)

too radical? then go w/a light gray or soft white

Katie mention a front door arbor. cool idea. do it in the same wood to match the slat siding around the window (and I love the black and white that they've done here.

or, do it in black. if you can do simple DIY, you could do this yourself for $100.

so here's the black arbor, wood siding, some gray stone steps, and the beautiful pink flowers. hello?!

Here‘s a better photo of what I mean by the arbor over your entry instead of a portico

Keep it super simple- straight lines

following

You could also boycott the covered entrance idea altogether with a look like this. Beth just posted this on another thread, and I thought you could easily achieve a modern look like this, if you like it.

Thanks so much. I did my best Paul Bunyan yesterday and cut off the branches- I’ll ask the TreeFellers to chainsaw the stump next week when they come to remove some trees. I love the ideas with an arbor and panels on the wall. I’ve included the updated pix. Here are some of the pictures I've saved with panelling on the front of the house. Do you think it would work?

(52) Pinterest · More Info

(52) Pinterest · More Info

(52) Pinterest · More Info

Yes it will look great

What color stucco?

Landscaping, a well-cared for walkway, new paint and a storm door that matches whatever color you paint your front door, new lights (1/4 to 1/3 the height of the front door), a pretty/modern address plaque will go a long way.

Thanks so much. I did my best Paul Bunyan yesterday and cut off the branches- I’ll ask the TreeFellers to chainsaw the stump next week when they come to remove some trees. I love the ideas with an arbor and panels on the wall. I’ve included the updated pix. The trees are now gone and the yard is cleaned. Step one is complete. Now, to add some interest to the outside walls and a new deck? For the front door. Because the living room window has so little wall space to put cedar panelling or some type of panelling on, we were thinking maybe we could do that on the other wall where the bedrooms are, with the two small windows? What do you think

Now I can finally start on the front porch and something for the walls.

I think I’d do wood siding on the window popout...this was Beth’s mockup

Are you thinking dark stucco? Or white like your inspiration photo?

definitely do the arbor/pergola (I honestly don’t know the difference) over your entry

Thank you Katie B. The roof is scheduled for next week - charcoal. My friends are going to build me a small deck, new stairs, perhaps put integrate a few lights on the steps. We'll build it over the existing concrete steps. I'll use composite decking (I don't want to have to deal with the annual staining/sealing as I presently do with the deck) We'll start at the pop out of the living room window and extend little bit over in front of the bedroom window - just a bit bigger than it is now. Who knows - I may even sit out occasionally to enjoy the sunset :) I'll lower the lights.

For the wood siding - can I use a cedar-looking type of composite? I don't want to have to seal/stain cedar every year.

Thank you so much for your help.

Sue

Thank you Beth, I’ll look for it. 😃

Hello my favorite design gurus:

Finally, the weather has been more favorable for exterior painting, the roof is reshingled, and I think contractors may have stock again so I can continue on my plan for the house.

I'll have a siding contractor over next week - I'll request the Hardie board that Beth H. suggested.

Here's a thought - should I have the bump out window 'sided' and the wall around the garage sided, OR the small piece around the front door and an 'accent' piece at the left side of the house, beside the bedroom window, as seen in the Pinterest picture?

Also, I'll paint my big white planters - perhaps a plum colour as was suggested.

While I'm outside painting, should I paint the white siding trim around the side door and surrounding the garage doors? Perhaps the same colour as the garage doors to un-emphasize the siding?

I'm hoping to finally get started on my update, thanks for all the help you've given me so far :)

Sue