Cute house. Have you thought of removing the shutters? Are you willing to update the hardscape? Looks like a wider step and walk would help. Local nurseries usually have staff that can help you choose plants for your location. Where are you located?

Darling house. Do you enjoy gardening or not? I would do as jck suggested and widen the walkway. The longer stone step looks like a good width. Then widen the beds under the windows. It would help to know what general area you live in as Ken always says in other forums, closest big city. I am switching to only planting natives for our area now, so that might be something to consider. I agree that visiting a nursery near you (preferable a native plant one) would help you.

Some option to go

more :-))

@jj4401 I like how others have widened the walkway. If you replace it, check into electric radiant heating under it so you don't have to shovel. It's not as expensive to install or run as it is to replace the walk. Same with a driveway. But I see a driveway and garage to the left. So you also could remove the center walk and widen the walk from the driveway to the front door, creating a patio if you want.  What do you think? If you did, I would make the walk from the house out to the current front stoop or just a little wider. Would that be 7 feet? That makes a nice wide walk or even a sitting for a couple chairs.

I'm in Zone 7. I like evergreens near the foundation because the ugliest time of year is winter. If I make the house pretty in winter, that is the backbone of the design. So I am suggesting you find an evergreen shrub that will not grow higher than the bottom of your windows to replace the shrubs on the right. I like false yews. Deer do not. Deer love real yews. False yews do very well where there is shade and will do well in full sun if you mulch their feet and give them some water.

I wouldn't put any shrubs to the left at all. That will make mowing and snow removal easier. You can ignore the latter if you heat. After that I would have a pot at the front stoop with annual or perennial flowers. You can have additional pots of flowers on either side of your chairs. If you want to add more to your yard, I have found useful a wide flower bed next to the drive. It's so much easier to blow autumn leaves into a flower bed than to rake and bag them and haul them to the landfill and lose all that helpful organic matter. It's easy to plan a flower bed with deer-resistant perennials like iris and peonies in spring, and agastache and monarda the rest of the year. Keep it simple and plant large swaths. The purples of iris, agastache and monarda would look awesome with your house colors. Repeat the flowers in front of your evergreens. This is my favorite on-line nursery for ease of finding what you want, customer service, outstanding packing quality, and replacement policy. https://www.bluestoneperennials.com/index.html