Hello houzz community! I've been consulting this forum for a while and people are so knowledgeable, I'm hoping you'll have some ideas for me. My husband and I just purchased a house built in the 1930's with great bones in a beautiful neighborhood. The problem is the previous owners did the bare minimum upkeep and either didn't care or couldn't afford any decorative finishes, especially on the exterior. It's basically a big stucco box right now with no discernible (to me anyway) architectural style, which makes it difficult to know what direction to even take the exterior.

We're thinking of a nice clean start, smoothing the stucco (acrylic), painting a pretty off white, painting the window and roof trim black. What else can we do to add visual interest that won't 1) be insanely expensive (subjective I know), and 2) won't cause the house to look like it's having a style identity crisis. Several of our neighbors did paneling on one side or on the upper half, we're getting quotes for that too. For the record I am not a fan of decorative shutters, but I do like planter boxes and different types of trim, pendants etc. Is this house colonial? Should we just go clean and simple? Not much in the budget for landscaping right now.

I know those high bushes aren't everyone's style but I kind of like the privacy and shade, plus they cover the HVAC system. Also, the windows on the first floor exactly mirror the two uppers you can see in the picture.

Thank you!!