I like your house. I would focus on developing the foundation planting. Keep in mind that nothing should be planted within one foot of the house at maturity. Look for variation in height and leaf color. Low in the front, middle height and then some taller ones, with grown the left side of the house.

I would paint the sidelights white and the door an interesting color. Even think orange or yellow. Paint the shutters a lighter shade of green, so they can be seen.

I would replace one panel on the garage doors with windows.

Houssaon have some good landscaping ideas. My first thoughts....Unless they need replacement, keep your siding, brick, shingles, and give it all a good cleaning. Remove shutters.

Paint all of your trim a dark grey. Modern front and garage doors either in wood tone or same as trim. Modern lighting and house number plaque.

Here are some inspiration photos...do you love any of these? You could achieve any of these looks pretty easily with your house.

Patricia has some great ideas! Here's a few more for you to consider.

Thank you for all the responses! Glad to give more details - The current siding is damaged/dried out, so we are prepared to get that fully replaced. The brick is still in good shape and we're open to the idea of painting it. We're not able to make any major structural changes, so we want to replace siding/trim and add any other cosmetic updates to the front (thinking of adding 2 columns to front porch area at least, etc..). The windows are also somewhat new, so would not replace those but maybe paint them(?)

Two inspirations:

1. White/Black Modern Farmhouse style. Would really love this style, but concerned that this look would not translate well to our split-level unless we made some major structural changes.

2. Light gray siding/white trim and painting the brick white feels like a safer option. We're looking into Hardie Board/fiber cement siding. We're thinking a much lighter shade of gray than the inspo photo below:

Thanks again!

If you want modern farmhouse, do it.

black trim and white siding (including brick)-replace shingles with board and batten

-if your windows are wood, paint them black

-you don’t need to do anything structural

-replace or remove handrail on path

-no shutters

-consider doing a pergola at your entry (you could DIY cheap)

lighting...paint doors black

Replace the old stained shakes with new weather-resistant wood boards such as teak....maybe the garage doors, too. Replace the curly handrail along the front walk with something more simple and modern in black iron. Plant a nice tree about 15-20’ out from the horizontal bank of five windows to add some height.

Some option to go with cedar/wood siding and charcoal door and shutters

Or with brick color for garage doors

Put white siding from long window bottom to foundation. Paint shutters white.

IMO It can look modern but not farm house. I would replace railing.

You’ll never have a farmhouse, of course. But you Can definitely go white/black modern with barn lights and get that vibe. Definitely do something with the railing. You might be able to remove the scroll and rehab the rest. Cable maybe?

Or a hog wire panel

I’d also recommend cedar posts or an arbor at your entry

There are some elements on these two that you could incorporate.

Ash Street Split · More Info

Split-Level Exterior Renovation · More Info

Thanks again everyone! Looks like we're leaning towards black/white color scheme. I like the idea of adding a pergola, updating garage doors, replacing railing with something more modern, and getting more landscaping up and running. Found this idea recently for inspo too:

Quick draft up here, but thinking something along these lines (the roof is a medium gray color & we're not changing that), but still love to hear any new input!

Nice! So just your fascia black? Unless they need replacing, your garage doors look fine...you could paint them black as well. Many say the garage doors should blend into the siding, but I like high contrast, personally. A black barn light over each garage door?

I just saw this photo- thought you might like it