Please measure the width of the planter box. From your photo I'm not sure if it's wide enough for a narrow shrub (southerners would plant nandina there LOL).

I think it's about 2ft wide, 3.5ft long

A decorative wooden lattice panel with a vine (clematis?) growing on it is a possibility.

an arbor around the door would give privacy and some protection from the elements.

I love the arbor idea!

Here are some ideas:

Wow @Dig that is so cool! 

Do you want privacy from the street too? Doug’s tree in front of the door provides that, but I should think you’d want to highlight the entrance to be welcoming

also, the arbor should be enough taller than the door frame do that even when planted the full frame of the door is clearly visible.. again, thinking that you want your entrance to be clearly readable.

Was that entry formerly a portico that was enclosed? You can always open it back up and set the entry door back where it was originally.

Simplynatural has nailed it IMHO.

I prefer SimplyNatural's smaller pergola with lattice on the left, it's a better fit for your home.

But even a small tree blocks the whole house. A shrub will be enough.

Not really what you asked, but SimplyNatural’s changes to your house itself are awesome. His/her photo makes your house look updated and sophisticated.

Wow @simplynatural, incredible! Thank you so much. My husband and I love it!!

Couple questions. Where does your snow removal go? And does your neighbor actively use their driveway? If so, where does their snow removal go?

@beesneeds Yes, our neighbor uses their driveway daily . When it comes to snow removal, we usually both shovel our driveways and sidewalks  and put excess snow in our yards.

I know you didn't ask about the right side of the house, but it looks as if you have a blue spruce that is already touching your house and roof. We are getting a quote today to have our blue spruce cut back from the house because squirrels and raccoons use it to get on our roof, and did a lot of expensive damage. It won't be cheap and the tree will look weird but this is the second time we've had roof damage from them. Squirrels in our attic this time, last time it was raccoons.

We can't remove the tree because we live in Toronto and the arborist confirmed that we won't be able to get a permit from the city to remove a tree that size. The fine to do so without a permit is minimum $500, maximum $100,000 per tree. I wish we had removed the tree and the one intertwined with it 35 years ago when we moved in, and planted one further away from the house.

Yours is not full size yet. Blue spruce will get a lot taller and wider than yours and you'll be happy that you removed it now. It will just get more expensive.

Don’t know where you live, but consider an Eastern Redbud (small tree, horizontal branching habit ) for your front yard, or a Flowering Dogwood pending your soil conditions. i like Doug’s plan, and a small tree could make the entry more ”cozy.”

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