Love the vertical board and batten idea from Beverly. It definitely adds “height” to a short home to do that type of siding. I, personally, like white houses. You can do dark trim on the windows and any color you love on the door.
While you’re redoing the outside, definitely consider larger windows.

Vertical siding, removing weeds and grass from driveway seams, removing a few lower limbs of the big front tree, and plants in large ceramic or clay pots leading the eye to the true front door will help. The extra door should be painted to match the siding, and the real front door could be painted in a color to become more visible.

Board and batten would be lovely! Larger windows aren’t in the immediate future but must happen at some point.

The existing windows on the front are the worst offenders. The one closest to the door in a dining room window; the other is over the kitch sink.

I never would have thought of painting that garage entry door to match the siding! That is brilliant, @felizlady. Yes to some measured trimming of the trees. Spring will be so much fun this year.

A white house would definitely work here @RedRyder (and pop nicely except in the winter), but the house has been white since it was built in the 70’s, and the fam is asking for change. White is always visual relief even in a rural landscape where it’s often thought that is unneeded.

We’re thinking of a board and batten in an 8” profile, wavering between a shamrock and a more muted green. After that…light or dark trim and garage doors.

as long as youre updating, then go the whole 9 yards!

can you remove the wood screen and some of that brick so that you could have a walkway straight up to the door?

If you can't, then consider doing this. I love this for your home. the slat wood, the black garage door, you could paint your brick a deep charcoal color, and I love the cement pavers w/the pebble. notice the porch posts, lighting, plants, etc.

here are a bunch of before and afters of similar style homes.

see what you like and I can tell you what to use to get that look (most of these are white, but any color can be used.

for instance, here is a blue siding w/similar color roof to yours (ignore the house style, just look at colors)

most of these w/the brick are painted. or rather, "limed'. Look at Romabio masonry 'paint'. it's natural. can be tinted any color too.

I love both of these too

painted brick on this one.

Leave the small light at the secondary entrance and add a large one at the real entrance. It should be 1/3 of the door's height. Since you're eliminating the brick pony wall, consider enlarging that step up porch to be as deep as the roof above it is. Add a wide walk straight to the street and use the space between it and the drive (which should be repaired and cleaned)as become a nice landscape feature. I think that will certainly direct people to the correct entry.

@Beth H. :Oh yes! The cedar screen, all of the brick, and the half wall are soon to be history. Thanks for all the great example photos. The natural wood accents work so well on these houses — thinking about a phase two to bring attention to the entry with cedar somehow.

@decoenthusiaste Great tip on sizing the lighting proportionally to the importance of the entrances! We will need to do some cement work in the spring. I see now how the step looks underproportioned. Thank you!

I understand your family is tired of white. Show them the examples that @Beth H gave you so they can see other ideas AND white, but an updated white house.

White houses seem to be the current ”thing” but i appreciate your wanting a change. Our second house was white inside and out and painting it a taupe was a real improvement for us. Since you know you are changing your siding now would be a great time to try large color samples out on your old siding and see how they work with your roof. It can be very jarring when roof and siding colors don't play well together.

@RedRyder We’re looking at everything. I think three generations of white farm buildings (barns, sheds, & more!) may be hard to overcome.

@mojavemaria Oh so true! The roof is quite warm with plenty of yellow undertones. It impacts colors a lot and that impact changes with the light. Reds in particular read orange; greens with much yellow in them read more yellow than you expect.

I would get rid of (or paint) the dark brown paneling and have the concrete power-washed, too.