It would help to see the whole front of house

We need to see the whole front of the house.

Here it is🙂

*we’re still working on landscaping. Plantings along the house are still tiny & will mature in 2-3yrs. Planning to either grade+sod or shrink+redesign the giant dirt island in the middle of the front yard

**the pathway lights are only temporary until I get the hang of backing up the driveway in pitch black at night or we figure out more attractive & night-sky friendly ambient lighting

Would you consider redesigning the entire walkway from the driveway to the front door? The walkway could be wider and maybe curvy would look good. The area leading to the front door could extend wall to wall. You would have room for some planters and/or a bench. Whatever catches your eye. I have seen homes that have a little patio at the turn which really looks so nice as a seating area. It looks like the existing landscaping would work right in with a new walkway. Pretty home.

if you're doing any concrete work, do rework the walk. And DO widen the landing in front of the door as advised.

If you're not doing concrete work, try to fit some pavers (plain concrete pavers/square stepping stones would work) along the sides so your front porch is (kind of) paved all the way across. You might have to move the hosta. Then put the yellow thing back right where it is because I like it. :)

I like the standard urns with greenery/flowers. There is such a wide variety of plantings you can put in them, and a wide variety of urns. If this entry doesn't get any sun during the day you would have to choose something shade loving.

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Happy2b & Fori- yes, we’d like to redo the walkway, & think flagstone with varying shades like the example screenshot below would tie in nicely with the tone of all nearby hardscapes. That project would need to wait until spring 2023 since our exterior budget for the year doesn’t have enough left. Love the curved idea! And definitely agree with both of you about the entire entry area being paved. We were going to try DIYing on the sides of the existing sidewalk portion as a temp solution, but didn’t know where the cutoff should be since the house extends further on the left (both sides even with the right side’s trim so 48”? Uneven, right side 48” & left 2x that?)

Fori, the yellow stool/side table makes me smile every time I see it😄 It’s remarkably weatherproof; was sitting out in the elements for 3yrs until this spring & is my my step stool for all things outdoor lol

I'd pave (or paver :P) the front porch up to the short side, so everything under the roof overhang there is covered. Then you can set up your console or bench on a solid surface.

When you redo it, I think your flagstone inspiration is just about perfect.

Mind sharing your front door color?

Kandrewspa- thanks for the suggestion! So do I, but hubby is allergic to bees so he wouldn’t entertain the idea in the past. Maybe if we just swapped the hostas for planted urns, though…

Fori- I like that! Do you have a colorway or pattern suggestion? Don’t mind at all! Door color: Sherwin Williams 6429 Baize Green.

I’m thinking if we make the paved area pretty enough, I’ll be happy enough to put off redoing the entire walkway for a few years in favor of building a back deck with gazebo first next spring😉

Here's where I think the landing should go, and then a curving walkway about 12" wider than the current walk should meander to the street or parking.

decoenthusiaste- thanks! Super clear & I agree. Walkway 12” wider & centered on the door+sidelite together, instead of how the current one is centered on door only?

What do you guys think about wall art/decor to help break up the left wall? Yay or messy?

Pattern or colorway for what?

If it's for the walk, I like what's in your photo. But you can do traditional brick or exposed aggregate or, well, just about anything. Your house is pretty classic and can pull off any number of things; it'll be hard to go wrong.

Your paved area isn't bad except that it feels unfinished at the entry--fill it in as Deco drew. I think you could even fill it in with loose river rocks or something and it would be fine (as long as you were careful with whatever you put on top of it).

The walk isn't terrible or anything. If you want to plop down some good solid stepping stones to connect to the sidewalk/street, you're golden to go ahead with that gazebo and leave the front hardscaping for a few more years. Because most folks will use the drive anyway--the walk to the street is for looks and tradition.

Thanks for the paint color! Bright and cheery and somehow still adult enough for a house. :)

The left wall gets a taller plant!

Perhaps a vine on a fancy trellis? Climate is important here of course. Looks like it could be a good place to cook a plant.

My sister & I did an outdoor craft the last time she visited, & I’ve been looking for a good place for the pieces. Nothing fancy & they’re obv faux, but cute & sentimental (we rarely get to see each other).

Paint the sidelight that fab green.

Hostas are great and every year they get bigger and bigger. How about more shade plants?

Front walk needs some lovin'. If you put some metal edging, you could do something like this:

Fori-re: paver material/style, gotcha👍 There’s not a single house in the neighborhood with a walkway that connects to the sidewalk, so even though I’d love a terraced walkway that branched down, whenever we get around to it redoing it it’ll stick in keeping with that & just connect to the driveway. We do have backyard fence gates on either side, though, so will definitely plan a stepping stone path around the front going towards the left😊

I love your trellis idea! Yes, we’re in the southeast where it’s hot to say the least April-October🥵 The front faces East & after 1pm that entryway wall isn’t in direct sun, so I’m guessing there have to be a few good non-flowering options (husband is allergic to bees so flowers are a no go). I’ll take a trip to a local nursery & ask for some suggestions.

I think you need a porch at the same level as the door…even a wood deck that just drops into the alcove area..painted or natural…i would keep concrete walkway but put pavers or layer something on top of it…the separate stone pathways require a lot of prep before you lay them…and you still can have leveling problems from watering..settling…etc…i would also consider removing the shutters in exchange for adding a nice trim color…which will unify the lines of the home rather than just draw the eye to those 2 windows

You’re welcome & thanks! re: paint color. That’s what I was hoping the vibe would be. This was the “before” & it always looked a bit gloomy no matter the weather:

My neighborhood is the same...walks go to the driveway. Some have added the walks but they're easier to add in my neighborhood because the houses are positioned close to the front of the lot. (Apparently it was the trend here in the 50s to have the front closer to the street to end up with the larger yard in back for Tiki bar swim parties and lawn darts or whatever it was people used to do in early suburbia.)

btydrvn- thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate your input! The raised porch/deck idea sounds interesting, I’ll run it by my husband this weekend. There’s a bit of an overhang (the correct term?🤷🏻‍♀️) as you walk into the entryway so I’m not sure if the lower clearance would be an issue but we’ll bust out the tape measure😊 Thanks for bringing up settling/drainage issues. Drainage is actually something we plan to address if we redo the walkway entirely since there are 3 downspouts all within 12ft of each other along that front area. A possible solution we came across was burying them to divert under to the other side of the island (if we keep it & create a low retaining wall around it).
Haha, so replacing the old shutters (“shudders”? Lol) instead of doing away with them was 100% my preference. I just love them & the pop of blue they bring. If I change my mind in the future, it’ll be easy to take down but for now they stay😁

Shutters are good here. :)

ETA you might want to edit your post to include the landscaping forum, or just remember to post there too when you get to the plants and stuff. We're kind of pushing into that realm...

Judianna20- We went back & forth about whether to paint both green, tried it (no pics) & for whatever reason the white trim dividing them stuck out oddly to me so we repainted white. I have seen some houses that have the entire entry door+sidelite(s)+trim painted the same cookie, but I’m not a fan of that look.
We have 4’ dia hostas along the side of the house to divide this fall🙌 I love that pathway & we may do something like that going around the sides of the house to the fence gates on either side to the backyard.

Fori, I think that’s my mistake for not limiting the design brainstorming to the actual entryway just near the door area. I completely forgot until you mentioned it, but I did post about requesting landscape design help/ideas in that forum earlier in the spring. And got some great suggestions! Let me figure out how to add the link to it…

& yay for the positivity about the shutters😄

Here is the link to my post in the landscaping forum:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6250729/landscaping-needs-help-starting-over-from-scratch

haha! Well good. it's nice when a plan comes together. :P