Leave the brick, it looks good. Pave the drive and get it all edged and nice and neat so that it shows the way to the side entrance front door. A possibility might be to have a carport opposite the entry to park a car out of the weather. Also some much nicer landscaping in the front would make a huge difference. Have a landscaper draw up the plans, with the type of plants for your area.

I agree, leave the brick and start with landscaping.

in the front, do one taller bush in the middle (like the ones you have on the corners now).

Then do smaller plantings, about height of foundation along the rest.

The corner shrub blocks the entrance from the view you posted. Can you post a view from the end of your driveway looking at the house?

This is a mid-century style split-level. Entrances are always on the side of the house. No gables on this house as the pitch of the roofs need to work together.

I would remove the shutters which are not appropriate for this style of home. The front yard needs a new landscaping plan that will direct the visitor around the corner to the entrance. There are ways to do this with walkways and edge plantings.

I would change the windows on the house.

There are lots of these split level homes in the Midwest and they are on narrow lots with side entrances. See below

Is this a split? It actually just looks like a ranch to me.

I agree that the brick should not be painted. Remove the shutters and then look at other things such as the porch railings( possibly white vinyl), the door itself, outdoor lighting, etc. Then invest in landscape/hardscape.

Thank you all for your input!

@Design Girl you are correct! This is a ranch, not a split.

@BeverlyFLADeziner you read my mind with the front hardscape/landscape!

@Indecisiveness the driveway is long but here's a better shot of the front

Seconding @Indecisiveness's suggestions to put a taller plant in the centre and lower plants on the side (the one on the right especially should be lower since it blocks the view of your entrance).

Big "No" to painting the brick! It looks lovely and appropriate as-is.

A crisper drive & walkway and pretty plants out front will make a huge improvement to your charming home.

Looks like such a clean well kept space. I wouldn’t paint the brick. Lighting landscaping and hardscape. Will be a game changer.

Great suggestions here. It's a cute house with lots of potential. The brick is a very nice feature.

With the side view, a paver path to the steps and edging on the drive would really clean up the look of the driveway.

Then maybe some plantings to the right of the stairs and that side of the house eventually

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Something like this:

Some option

A closer view of the porch would be helpful. The railing appears to be the kind of unpainted/unstained safety enclosure you'd expect to see on a backyard deck. A nice improvement would be to widen the steps to the full width of the porch, and add a more attractive railing around the porch and down both sides of the steps. Maybe a black metal railing. A smaller update would be to paint the wood white and replace only the handrail to one that fits the hand more comfortably. Safer and better looking with relatively little effort.

I understand what people are saying about the shutters not being properly sized to the window because they couldn't cover the window if closed. But to my eye they give the windows a little heft and I like the black colour. I think of them as eye makeup for windows - they enhance the eye although nobody really has black lines around their eyes LOL. Where I live they're very common on this type of window on a brick house.

Agree with what has already been said about the driveway and landscaping. Don't paint the brick. Cute house, and won't need much to bring out its charm.

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