IMO that walkway is a mess and not apprpriate to the house and not working with th other brick I need to see the whole front of the house in one shot so post that here in a comment . To me the garage and thouse don't belong together either so I need to see them together.

Please photograph the front of your home while standing across the street. Also please give us your approximate location (nearest big city & state). What does your Perma-Treat guy say about mulch around the home?

Toronto, Ontario

What is Perma Treat?

Its winter here so this is an old shot

Mississauga? Our previous neighbourhood has similar homes. Have you driven around for ideas, as I’m sure lots of people have updated and never know what might resonate.

We took a picture of our home and went to Sheridan nurseries during a down time. They didn’t charge and gave a lot of guidance. Advise them that you want low maintenance.

Suggestions: Layer under window and plant along garage. Your tree near sidewalk needs help; consider a small berm (see below) and it will have a lovely impact. Remove the brick from city’s tree and let grass grow around base.

Your walkway has a huge influence and highly suggest updating. We filled in the side near garage and made an expansive, welcoming entrance (poured cement and added granite slabs), but there endless choices at various price points. To save money, you could remove the bricks yourself and sell on Marketplace.

Suggest greige or black for garage, and new lights (including front door).

Perma-Treat is termite control - mulching around a house invites termites up to munch your home in warmer areas. Since you're in Toronto you can mulch with great abandon.

What is a berm? I can't spend alot on this because eventually I'll need to make the entrance wheelchair accessible. So this is solely to make it look pretty the family this spring summer.

https://plantcaretoday.com/build-berms-mounds.html

With accessibility down the road, maybe just remove weeds (power washing may work) between stones and might have to reset/even out some and then add fine sand. If you provided your budget, you will receive more relevant advice. Ie: add large pots with annuals at front door, perhaps some hostas along side of garage and under tree and spend the rest on lights and painting the garage.

Wow thank you. That looks a lot better, but we live in an area with alot of wildlife (raccoons, foxes, coyotes, opposums) and the more bush, the more hiding spots for the critters. Also worried about mosquitoes, in our first year the bush under the front window was a mosquito magnet, we couldn't go through the front door of the house. And my daughter loves flowers, so she'd want more colour than greenery, but still, this is so amazing, thank you! Nice to see its possible to make it look nice, if we were willing to spend on it!

Any changes will cost either time or money or both, but given that, here are a few relatively simple ideas. I personally think the house colors are fine, so I wouldn't paint unless for maintenance reasons. I would remove the blue spruce and have the stump ground, lower the height of the evergreen shrub that's under the window, plant some flower seeds, and get a couple of hanging baskets for the brackets on the garage wall. I would remove the grass from the paver walkway and widen the small lower step to the full width of the stoop opening. Then, if I still had energy and budget left, I would plant a small-scaled tree (serviceberry maybe?) right of the walk, and perhaps another left of the driveway if there is enough space there. And if possible, someday I would replace the bulky brick column at the entry with a smaller wood one that lets the door be seen. Here are visuals with and without the tree(s).

Thank you this is very practical. What software are you using for these rendering?

I just use Microsoft's free program Paint. It takes some practice and patience, but it's free. :)

I think the color of your house works well with your brick, but I would consider painting your front door a brighter color.

Like this with Dig Doug's great design:

Or with simplynatural's equally great design:

Something to keep in mind is what it will look like during the winter.

The Blue Spruce looks lovely right now, covered in a storm of snow. But it will have to go the root system prevents us from building a

I had no idea paint had plants and stuff, very cool

Since you're going to be removing everything to make it an accessible entrance, just plant annual flowers in the flower beds. If you're going to remove the blue spruce, you'll need a permit since it looks like the trunk is more than 6" wide.

I'm curious what the shrub was that was attracting mosquitoes - do you know its name?

It seems strange to me that your kids are saying that your house is ugly.

I’m so impressed with this transformation from Dig Doug’s Designs. I think adding the front courtyard, wide path, gorgeous landscaping and lamppost would be well worth the investment. It gives the feeling of a secluded country cottage amidst an ordinary neighborhood.

I'm not sure what the bush was but there have been no raccoons or oppossum or droves of mosquitoes since it was removed. I don't mind them speaking their mind, it's currently terrible, and they have a good sense of asthetic

In case anyone is curious about what I did, I went the very economical route of colourcolourful planters on sale, colourful flowers, a couple of lawn ornaments, new lights, a new house sign, and a pretty garage colour. My daughter absolutely loves it, and is easily able to identify her home (which was my ultimate ).