Lanscaping is often overlooked and will make a huge difference. Untrimmed overgrown shrubs are not attractive. Remove them. Adding a level planting bed with a low retaining wall where the slope is would help. Then plant low growing perennials and keep them trimmed.

If possible replace front doors with a style that works better with your home. This may be too $$.

A larger light at a lower height by the door.

Can't see the walkway please post a photo of that.

Remove tiny shutters on the bay window. Replace upper shutter with wider - each should be 1/2 width of the window. Or remove them. Wider trim on the windows would look more modern.

Are you replacing siding, or just looking to paint? What is your budget?

Thank you for suggestions! I was also thinking about siding. Would like to break up the space on that upper area. Any ideas on that? Thank you!

New front door with a wood portico and decking in a natural color. I'd paint the brick (white) but if that's undesirable I would go with olive green board n batten siding to replace all the front siding and trim the windows in natural color wood without the shutters. If the siding is white and carries through to the rest of the house, I' d paint the brick white and change to white board n batten siding in front.

If you replace the siding, look into board and batten in a dark blue. Remove the shutters. Get one door with oversized sidelights.

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This blue or a shade darker would look good with your brick. I like the wider planks if you want to keep the clapboards. You could do a shake under the bay window.

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I think wide trim on the windows would be enough. You already have two kinds of siding.

Blues and greens look great with red brick, as do some darker taupe shades.

What's the thin white trim around your front door?

Thank you all so much! Your feedback is very helpful.

Oh one other - would you suggest a flat portico or gable? Thanks again, everyone!

I tried a sage green, wider shutters and a new window in place of the window with siding under it and a more modern door.

Thanks, all! I never thought about a gable portico either. All the suggestions are helpful!

Sure you can go with flat roof as well

Thanks! So creative. I appreciate it!!

There are so many options and I’d pour over inspiration pictures. Even if the houses are not reflecting yours exactly, you‘ll get a sense of what you are drawn to regarding colors, materials, entrance, landscaping, and consider if interested in painting brick.

Depends on your budget as well and if only minor changes can be done, concentrate on individual components that would work with what you are’t changing.

Here is just a few examples that I found searching Pinterest ”side split exteriors”.

Replace picture window with 4 long windows that cover panel under window, built a Gable Portico with an Open Arched Ceiling & if possible install a Round window over it cause the gable will be too close to that short window & it'd be better in proportion to the other window, Good Luck ὄD

Thank you, Maureen and Chris! This is very helpful!

The first thing would be to remove the current fake shutters. IF shutters are on a house, correct design is that they should be 1/2 the width of the window on each side - such that they look like they are real and could be closed and meet in the middle. Little pieces of shutter material on each side of windows looks ridiculous. Unless shutters are to be actually used and closed before a storm, best to leave them off. Removing the current fake "shutters" would go a long way in making it look better. Then - paint the white part same as the rest of house - eye is always drawn to the lightest color and the white part sticks out rather than blending for a cohesive look. Of course a new front door w/o the side lights would improve a lot.

Well, a lot will depend on your budget - but some ideas. I would change the siding on the peak to a vertical battan board. Add farmhouse double doors, some dramatic sidelights (oversized). Under the long window - where the siding is - that can't be original. It may have been a decorative panel. But one idea is have a giant window box build, or replace with a panel design. Lastly, if budget allows either paint the brick white or do a lime wash treatment. You will have the most envious house on the block!

Generally i am in favor of preserving brick because its a classic material. in he case of this house though there is far too much contrast between the dark brick and the light painted siding. The eye is naturally drawn to light so the big bare upper story is the first thing one sees which is why you feel the need to fix it. A change of color is crucial here. keeping the brick natural would mean painting the siding a dark color to keep it from being the focus. Dark painted houses aren’t always appealing so it may be best to paint the brick to brighten the whole house to keep that upper floor in balance with the rest of the face. fixing the contrast issue would do quite a bit and may prevent needint to drastically alter the front.

Thank you! This was my moms house - since 76 - and I really appreciate the comments as I plan to make changes.

Whatever you decide, just enjoy the process of watching new things appearing on the horizon! This is an exciting time for you.

Here are my suggestions: 1) replace the front doors if you can. 2) install larger black sconces 3) redo the front landscaping; you don't need to replace everything but introduce lighter tones such as white to give it light (brick looks dark with dark bushes in front). 3) If you replace the siding, installing vertical siding will give that section some height. 4) see my 2 options, you can also go a bit lighter on the grey with white trim, black door, and option for wide white of black shutters. 5) I also show a flower box on bottom of large window.

After just reading aniluap2's comment about Celery's visulization, I had a look at it and found the extended porch and roof above most interesting and therefore have improved my visulization showing an extented porch and metal roof above.

What a nice house. You are getting lots of great ideas for both budget and more expensive improvements. Once you have some of the structure changes finalized, landscaping makes a world of difference. Good luck with your home :)

I love celery visualization’s suggestion of the flat roof extended out to create a covered front porch. It minimizes the overhanging top floor (a dated 70’s style)
and makes the front so much more appealing. As others have already suggested, the shutters are not proportional and should be removed. A more modern front window that eliminates the siding beneath was also an excellent suggestion. Paint the entire house in a color of your choice to reduce the choppiness of the facade and put in a modern front door. The landscaping also needs a refresh. I would start with the things that make the biggest impact first, if budget is limited, and make other improvements over time. How wonderful you get to put your signature on a treasured home. Have fun!

I am just curious if people who participate in Design Dilemma type things regarding updating older houses ever go much on the Building a House forum.

With older houses it seems as if there is any contrast at all between siding and brick it has to be eliminated because it "chops the house up", and we are talking about two materials. On the Building forum many of the houses have about Five different cladding materials on them in an almost random patchwork and if you start suggesting eliminating any of them for simplicity, it gets called "boring". Not trying to be a smartass, I just think it's an interesting phenomenon.

I played with some of the excellent suggestions of others just for fun:

simplynatural, I love your rendering/version/whateveryacallit. It just makes it look like the house could have been built that way 50 years ago, or was built this year. Really really nice. I love that extremely functional porch and the landscaping. What software do you use? I really need to get some, especially if it works for landscaping too!

Mimimomy, I just use Microsoft's freebie Paint. It's limited; landscape elements are freeform selections from what's already there elsewhere in the photo (or from parts of other photos), but the price is right and I find it works well for me to visualize what could be.

Love all of this. It is so helpful! I am working on the landscaping and the interior at the moment and I really enjoy it. It feels so nice to work hard and have an awesome finished product.

Kim B, if you do decide to replace the front door unit, you might consider narrowing the opening to the width of a standard single front door with sidelights. It would be easy to do at that time and, to my eyes, would look in better proportion with the rest of the house (see modified photo below).

It will be a beautiful home!

That’s awesome! Thanks to everyone.