my thoughts are, play up the height. start over with the landscape.

1. hang window boxes, they can even have fake plants but I would do something long hanging.

2. add tall narrow shrubs

3. have more open space in the garden bed

4. maybe hang a large metal art

5. scale-up and go more modern on the post light

5. paint your trim and carport a more modern shade to update the overall look

6. paint the downspouts close to the brick color so they go away.

oh and power wash the whole house and driveway.

Thank you! These are all great ideas!

Are you due for a new roof or can you clean it? Bring the landscaping and flower beds out to the street in a curved strip beside the drive.

Yeah we are due for a new roof - we've been hoping to do a large-scale second floor addition which would also add a front porch, but timing turned out to be wrong, hence me trying to do the best I can with what I've got. Thank you for the suggestion! I hadn't thought of continuing along the driveway.

I would put a raised wrap around deck across those 2 sides and make the “front entry” way more inviting. The carport can be a covered porch.

Also, I'd think about ways to draw the eye to the entry -- I can't even see it in your photos! A good porch light might be enough for evening guests, a very bright door color, maybe a planter or wacky welcome sign... Just keep it in mind and something might grab your eye.

You could create a nice sitting area here, maybe 12' deep and the length of your house wall, enclose it on the street side with evergreen shrubs (whatever grows quickly in your area) that are just slightly lower than the bedroom windows. Floor could be grass, gravel, or concrete pavers. For a finished look, put a row of lower flowering shrubs outside the tall ones. Black or dark gray furniture would look nice with your brick and stays clean longer than white, and I agree with painting the downspouts brick color and beefing up the post light.

Can you post a pic of the actual front door. IMO a walkway to the door would be a great choice but those overgrown bushes I would also probably not have the carport and end the driveway at the front edge of the house .

A more modern post light would be good. I would thin out the big shrub and allow the trunk structure to show. A bed full of plants keeps weeds down I would extend the bed to include the flowering tree and add more flowering plants. A curving path could be added through the bed to add more interest.

These are all such wonderful ideas! Thank you so much, everyone. Sadly, the reason you can't even see the "front" door is that it is deep within the carport, totally hidden. Hence the worst of the problems. Also trying to avoid anything too $$ with the front in case it gets ripped out with renovation in future, though I love the idea of a deck or a sitting area. I was thinking of a large trellis on the wall with clematis or the like. I'd love some specific plant ideas should anyone have any!

No one can suggest plants because no one knows what your climate is. If you don''t want to say exactly where, give the nearest city.

Right! Of course, that’s important. Sorry for leaving that out. Maryland, just outside of Washington DC.

Not a pro. Just some thoughts.

Budget and building codes permitting, of course, the most obvious solution to aside entry would be to move your carport/parking space(s) to in the front of the house in front of the right side of the existing carport but also in front of the left front exterior wall of your house and build a foyer with a front/street facing door on the side of the house at the entry door.

Your walk path toward a new front porch and foyer built on the left side of the house would be beside your future carport.

If only landscaping is in your budget, consider planting any shrubs or trees you add for privacy away from the front exterior wall of the house to enable you to create at least a short walk path directly in front of your front exterior wall of your home along side your driveway to aim your visitors toward the carport where your entry door is located and, perhaps, a small patio between the green privacy wall and the left front corner of the house..

If, however, you can alter your entry:

Enclose your new entry foyer at the current entry door and also enclose the rest of what is now carport behind it to create the entry foyer. Unless your door is very close to the front, you could leave the area between the new foyer and the front exterior wall of the house as front porch.

In front of the new front porch and your front exterior wall of your home, beneath front window height, create a forward facing front gable using the same left slope as the roof over the new foyer and porch about six feet deep, adding to your front porch in front of your foyer.

To create your new carport on and to the right of your existing driveway, extend the right slope of that forward facing gable to make your carport as long as it needs to be -- and you could also have the carport roof continue part of the left slope of that forward facing gable shape (perhaps a third or even half the way down) shape so the left slope covers a walk path alongside your new carport.

Intereting thoughts suezbell! Thank you!