Maybe something like this.

I wouldn't add railing. The porch is too shallow.

The porch doesn't appear deep enough to get around if a railing was added. Consider adding a large trellis at the left end and grow some nice climbers there for added privacy, and flower bed that runs along the porch maybe consider nice flowering shrubs that can get up to 2-3 feet. This might add some interest along the porch. Pretty home!

No railing. I would change the posts to ones that are beefier. And think about changing the walk to a curved walk that will give a larger planting area. Then do some landscaping.

I agree that you can achieve the effect that you want by either replacing the existing porch posts with thicker ones, or beefing up the ones you have by encasing them in wood. You need the posts to have a much more assertive presence. Paint them white. Then....landscaping! Pull the sidewalk out to provide a much larger planting bed. And consider hanging baskets between your posts for spring, summer, and fall interest!

Yes those posts look great. Good Luck

If it were my house and I decided to crack open the piggy bank to spend on cosmetics, I would move the walkway much further away from the house and create a wider bigger flower bed to visually create more of an anchor to the ground for your whole house.

If that’s too expensive, think about putting a picket fence along the outside of the walkway., between the walkway and the tree, something in the spirit of your white rocking chairs and porch corbels. Old fashioned, wider slats. If you’ve got the right climate, grow morning glories up some of the pickets, or put in some tall-ish cottage garden plants like gladiolas or tall daisies and cosmos. If you want you could even put an arch trellis at the entry (but make it tall enough, nothing rinky dink and rickety.)

You’ll need to find a new place for your angel, but maybe sitting on a rock under the weeping tree would be nice, plus buy your angel a frog or a bunny to contemplate. Right now the story appears to be a morose angel kicked out of the house for some unknown offense.

Yes, on the thicker porch posts.

My poor little angel does look sad, doesn't he @ital mover. He is so heavy, it takes two it us to move him.

I've already had someone come out to give me an estimate on the porch post encasings and have had one estimate on the sidewalk ($3300.00 which I thought was a little high, but we'll see where the others come in). i'm still waiting on two more companies to call me back to schedule estimates.

I am thinking stamped depending on cost difference and will make the front garden wider. Right now its pretty useless. One of the two companies does landscaping so I may ask for their suggestion on size.

I can't wait to get something scheduled! Definitely looking forward to the change.

Maybe when the workers are there they can help find him a place to sit under the weeping tree.

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I don't know, angels are curious creatures. Maybe once the porch is perked up, the angel will too. 😇

My first thought was to beef up the posts, also. Builders always seem to go with the size that supports the weight without considering the scale that will give a balanced look and so many times the posts just look too skinny even though they are sized appropriately for the weight they are bearing. The thing I find interesting looking at your photo is that there are so many posts and that they aren't evenly spaced. It makes me wonder about the framing above them (we had a builder once who pieced shorter lengths of beam which necessitated putting posts under the joints, I wasn't happy about that). I'm thinking they probably spaced them so that the door was framed by two posts, rather than one post ending up in front of the door. You may want to find out what the framing above the posts is and re-do the spacing to make them symmetrical, if possible.

@lisianthus Funny you should mention that. I am in the process of getting estimates now and one of the contractors pointed that out as well. Actually the two post that frame the front door are not even even to the door frame if you can believe it. I never noticed it before but now I cannot unsee it. This style home is pretty common in my area and I've noticed most porches were designed the same.

Currently, we are waiting on all the estimates to come in but we are likely replacing the post with 6" square vinal post. i can't really go any bigger without them hanging over at the top/bottom but at least the two around the door will be fixed. I just hope the 6" square post will beef it up enough to make a noticable difference.

The walkway will be widened to meet the front post, which will be even to the door frame, rounded at the first turn and then come down curve a little and then flare towards the driveway.

This little project of mine has turned into a bigger project than I imagined but I think it'll really pay off in the end.

Please don't mind the trees/bushes that are all in need of a good pruning

There is nothing visible in your shots where whacking them back markedly would be an enhancement. With the comparatively large weeping cherry actually being rather special.

As it is now. In its current size and with its current shape.

No rail, make post bigger and paint shutters black!

Update: New walkway is almost complete - Contractor still needs to fill in the sides with topsoil and sealer but we're making progress. We expanded the front garden by 6" and increased the walkway from 3' to 3 1/2 foot and I can believe the difference. Because of the front tree we decided not to move out any further but I am so happy with the progress!

Next landscaping and front porch post! Thanks all for your suggestions and for spending my money (lol)

Very nice

Finally after months and months of waiting the front porch post are complete! We ended up with and 5 1/2 inch PVC wrapped with decorative trim. Thank you all so much for the recommendations. I am very pleased with the outcome. They still need to be painted but what a huge difference.

We are getting a new front door which will not be installed until the end of Oct. I am also contemplating painting the shutters black.

It looks fantastic, what a transformation! And PVC so no worries about rot in the future, that's great! I'm so glad you updated your post, it's fun to see how nice it turned out!

Thanks @lisianthus - I am very happy with them. I think the guys did a really nice job building them. This is something I would have never thought of doing but wow what a difference. So glad I asked my Houzz friends before adding the railing.

Huge improvement! Well done.

@tozmo1 Thank you!! I am very happy with the outcome. Can't wait to finish up this project.

Even the angel looks perkier! 🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀