I would remove all the shutters and the plastic insert grills on the garage doors.

Paint the whole house including the garage door and concrete foundation the same color.

Any color, but a dark graphite would be my choice with the brick steps.

...Painting the concrete the same color as the siding will unify the look and make the house one with the garage.

I would choose a very dark color with no contrasting trim like this home.

I'd paint the foundation a dark, brick red, but you could do navy, too. I second getting rid of the shutters. It looks like you have some high-quality brick stairs. I would keep them. I'd keep the railings, too, but you could change them. A darker color siding with white or cream trim will look sharp. I like blue with white trim.

Colonial Exterior Remodel, Deep Ocean Blue Color James Hardie Siding, Deerfield · More Info

That Blue House · More Info

I would not paint the foundation the same color as the house, with the brick. I'd make it darker.

Make sure you have a plan, even if having to do in stages. I’d start with the entrance as it’s an important stepping stone to other decisions, both financially and style wise. Not sure if you were going to replace or just update. If replacing, get ideas, options and quotes.

If updating, just paint steps and hopefully add new railings.

Now you can address the right side and in order for the foundation not be as prominent, paint it and the garage door the same color as the stairs. The house will also feel less broken up.

If budget allowed, you could add stone tiles on the sides of the garage door.

Last step is choosing a paint color and when the shutters are removed stand back to see if you want to keep off. If there was less contrast to the siding, they may look a bit better.

With not all lot of money, remove shutters; paint the concrete foundation the white of the house. Paint the trim of the roof. the red of the brick steps. Then rethink the landscaping. Plant a taller evergreen to the left of the garage door (or try replanting the one you have, but trim it so there isn't such a point/soften it.)

Where the trash is positioned, it there dirt to plant?

The evergreen has been removed. There is another to the left of the house but I am pulling and putting a small red maple. On the right (by the garbage) they paved the whole thing. As far as the garden in front, I’d just love some ideas on what to plant for MA. I was thinking taller bushes near the house to hide some of the foundation. Like huge hydrangeas. But would love ideas

That house looks beautiful as is. But if you want to change it a new lick of paint will do the trick with contrasting colours.

I would go with any other color than white (not a fan of WHITE houses). A darker color will tone down the red of your brick a bit, and with the evergreens gone it must stand out more than even in your pictures. As to what to plant. Go to your local nursery and see what they are selling, ask them for suggestions. They know your specific zone and what's successful!!!

NO to shutters/garage door inserts

YES to painting foundation to match your house color.

YES to updated stair railing.

I am not so keen on FEATURING the garage door by painting it to stand out. A better look might be to let the garage door go the way of the foundation and add trim color to windows and front door to distract from the garage door. I might even try the red of the brick....

A two tone house could be a solution.

Some great ideas already given. I agree with removing shutters - at least on the front windows over garage & the one on the porch. Also to removing the trim insets on garage windows. Plain windows on garage door would make a huge difference. The pic with the house numbers on foundation next to the stairs is great! About the plantings next to stairs - you said you’re in MA? I’d really stick with evergreens in that spot for year round appearance. Too bad the taller cone shaped evergreen removed if it was a slow growing dwarf spruce that wouldn’t get much larger. I’d look to replace it with another columnar shaped evergreen but plant farther back into the corner. It’s a nice backdrop to lower evergreen plantings in front of it. Don’t know how much snow you get but if it’s sometimes heavy & deep then the conical shape that was there is the best shape. A flat top will split or fall over with heavy snow piled on top. About the red maple you plan for the left side - if it’s too red & too close to house, the red maple won’t stand out - it’ll blend into the red brick. I love red maples too but in this case I’d look for a small green maple. And, by small, I do mean a less than 15’ at maturity. Japanese Maples in that size range are good choices.

Your house is already quite nice looking. Would suggest that you remove the shutters. They are obviously nonfunctional and don't belong on the window configuration that you have. Will suggest that you replace the wrought iron column with an actual structural column in an appropriate style. Might also suggest that you cover the exposed concrete foundation with a parge coat or perhaps stucco.

Not sure "not a lot of money" means to you, but painting an entire house is expensive if done well so I would work with what you've got. The first step in a good paint job is replacing any rotten wood. Just doing that might blow the budget so make sure there is no rotten wood anywhere, repair that if needed and see how much you have left. Your house looks very well maintained so that might not be an issue at all but in an older home, I'm sure there are lots of hiding places for rot (speaking from experience).

I'm partial to @simplynatural look for the freshness and least cost. My neighbor removed the ornamentation in her iron railing and it totally updated the railing. People think she replaced it. If you remove the curlicues as suggested, you'll be far ahead for little money. Just make sure the sparks that fly during removal don't set anything on fire, 😱not that happened to my neighbor or anything, all good.

I'm normally not a fan of a contrasting garage door but the example looks good. I'd like to see a mock up of doing the entire foundation and garage door one color to create a two tone as Beverly suggested.

Don't paint the brick stairs. In my experience, light colored painted brick stairs collect dirt in the mortar on the risers and always look icky. The brick warms the house up and adds texture and an expensive element to the mix. Painting it a dark color would make that disappear.

The picture @BeverlyFLADeziner posted had a nice gate. Don't know if you use that concrete to the right of the house, but it might add a little something to the mix to put a pretty wooden gate/fence there.

Have one built that mimics the garage door or paint the same color

A white one

If by red maple you mean Japanese maple, be aware that the most common one is Bloodgood, which is NOT a small tree. Less common ones are speciality items and $$$.

Front landscaping should be planned to look at least decent all year. So in a climate with winter, evergreens are a necessity. If you must have a hydrangea, plan on putting it in front of a larger evergreen, so it disappears during the winter.

I too would love to see a mock up of the foundation and the garage the same color. But I do love simply natural’s suggestion. I’m with you all on the shutters, the railings and the garage window inserts (already removed). I like the idea of picketing off the right side. The house is vinyl sided but it’s cracked in some spots. I will have to rethink the evergreen. They have a huge rhododendron(seen smaller in this photo) but it’s spindly . Maybe some shrubs not pointed… I love the house numbers but we only have 2 numbers/ I wonder if the numbers followed by my street name would look as nice?

As long as your address numbers aren’t ”11”, two numbers would be okay. Just get a style / shape with some bulk & heft to them. Adding street name might be okay if name is short… 24 Ash St…..or something similar. Your Rhodie - if it’s spindly it might respond to a shape up pruning, some fertilzer & consistent watering. Hard to say without knowing the growing conditions for it. Rhodies are abundant here in my PNW & there are so many varieties and sizes. Their spring flowering creates masses of colors all over - think cherry blossom season impact.

Can you please post a pic of what your house actually looks like now? A lot of these suggestions are changes you have already made. We can't offer suggestions on how to improve if you don't show us what you are working with.

Removing shutters sounds so easy but consider this: Take a peek behind the shutters to make sure there is not a sun faded outline of them on your siding. If not, great. If it is just a clean outline because they have been protected from dirt then you will have to clean the rest of your siding to get it all to look the same. I'd take care in cleaning as the siding is already cracking.

Just to temper expectations, your railing is never going to look as bold as in mock ups below because it is thin.

I'd save up for a really good landscaping job. Think of the entire area from the steps to the left side of the driveway as one piece to work with. I'd try to cover as much of the foundation there with plantings. Because you are in MA, do 70% evergreen, 30% things like hydrangea - which completely disappear to nothing more than half of the year. Maybe taller evergreens in the back and peewee hydrangia closer to the front.

Morning! I will try to find an updated picture but only the inserts from the garage were removed and the evergreen. Otherwise , it’s as is. I completely agree about the possibility of removing the shutters and seeing panels damaged. I’m super concerned. But really want to do what I can to update the exterior. The shutters and the foundation being exposed bother me the most. But I just couldn’t figure out what would look best. My husband wants the house gray and I love blue. But a total residing is out of the question right now. So I loved the blue garage. Would love to see the whole bottom that navy. But so far I’m loving the suggestions!! It’s super helpful.

Here are illustrations of two of others' suggestions for the foundation color.

Navy:

Navy, but grayed down a bit:

Brick color:

All of these have a "cut-in-half" look, which for me is less appealing. A white foundation emphasizes the house's soaring height, which I like. But it's what appeals to you that matters.

Thank you for this! I agree. I like the white better

And if not the white the darker gray is nicer than the blue

Here's the version I like best with a bit of landscaping. I added a couple of craggy New England granite boulders and grew the shrubs a little to fill in the square between stairs and drive. Assuming the strip of grass on the left is yours, maybe plant a row of fastigiate (genetically narrow) trees for privacy for you and a nice view for your neighbor, without encroaching on either's walkway? There is a Goldspire ginkgo (male, no stinky fruit) that says it grows 25' tall but only 7' wide, turns a gorgeous gold in the fall. I'd plant an evergreen groundcover under these so no mowing. Maybe grow an evergreen vine on the chain link fence on the right (might require persuading your neighbor if it's not yours) for some green on that side?

(Okay, I'm done now; just loved your house!)

Can you please just come over? Haha. Thank you for all of your help. It’s truly uplifting

Love the white with the blue door. I think the large numbers make your house look a bit like a paint chip.

Ha!

@Kendrah, yes, I struggled with the numbers when reducing from five digits to the actual two (not necessarily these two). Tried them larger, smaller, higher, lower, left, center, right, horizontal, vertical, diagonal. Maybe silvery metal rather than black would be better, so they're more subtle (below)?

Better ideas . . . ?

Your house has nice classic look, I would simply tweak a few things. Trim the roof line in black, install white lattice over the concrete foundation, replace the garage door and have the front door match (we don't see it), install a larger ceiling light at front door and large sconces by the garage door with large street numbers. Hide the garbage can with a fence panel(s). Continue your work on the landscaping.

Oh my goodness , I love that as well.

When you say line with lattice, do you just paint over it all white?

I’m usually a person that says take down the shutters, but they really balance out the house painted black. Love the black door!

*and black garage

Not familiar so I Googled vinyl siding. The cracks can be repaired with the the right caulk and painted. Acrylic paint specifically formulated for vinyl can extend the life of the siding so it will pay for itself over time.

Proper prep includes cleaning with a brush and soap and water but no powerwash.

A paint sprayer is recommended.

A light color is needed, dark paint can absorb heat and warp the vinyl. We all have hot summers nowadays.

Since you like blue or gray, why not a blue gray house. This is a nice color.

@lisedv ... wow that's wonderfu! Like that you've left the shutters as decor, balances out the rest of the house.

We also don't know what the roof color is or what the front door looks like....could make a difference.

@mdemaio91

I would paint the lattice before installing it over the concrete, I wouldn't paint the concrete.

Front door has a screen and a basic door. I want to to replace with full glass screen and a door with windows on the top

The door suggested by lisedv is the one I want.

If you have either a screen door or storm door over your front door, it should be painted the same colour as the front door.

A few changes that will give your house a crisp look without spending much , Leave the black railings.

Remove the shutters altogther.

Remove the little garage door grids. Paint the garage door black.

Powerwash your foundation and paint it white.

Add another evergreen in front of the left side of the foundation slightly shorter than the one in your planting bed.

Add a black tall planter on the right side.

--Get large modernb black house numerals and stack them vertically next to the entryway.

--Can't see your front door, but paint it the same red as your brick.

--Get a large porch light in black and modern

Don't keep your garbage can on display.

Oops. I see lisadv did a great rendering of some of the things I suggested. That's the way to go!

I love the navy across the bottom with navy house numbers against the white above. Navy mail box. Takes focus from small garage.
Takes f