Good question! The eaves, however, can easily handle the weight. The trellis with the pink flowering bougainvillea pictured above is secured with hooks screwed into the eaves.

Home inspectors mean - don't plant things that can heave your foundation - not, don't plant anything next to the house. This is a great house - not a butterfly roof (that is a V shape instead of the gables and clerestories you have. Once you pull off the bars, let's try a tonal approach that is neutral and earthy that will work with red brick and deal well with white/gray roof and gravel drive.

Brights like this teal green we need to prime that stuff out - consider a khaki tone. bm military tan - classic, cool, will protect the cedar for another 40 - 50 years. http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/militarytan

Go lighter on the eave (BM Light Khaki), and use dark warm gray on the beam tails, fascia, door and (?window) trim. Test bm gunmetal http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/gunmetal

Use this in a high gloss on the entry door and any window sashes that are paintable

PS - you can order 3" of gold decomposed granite for the entire gravel area (or the last 25 feet to the house). When it is placed on top of the driveway gravel you have now, you use a push broom to smooth it over. The fines will lock into the larger gravel and make a beautiful surface worthy of a european park. Once you have it evenly spread, use a soft sprinkler head to distribute water across it evenly. When it dries, it will be level, have good compaction, and be walkable barefoot. The gold tones will compliment the red brick . . .and the color I suggested above. Concrete trough planters with bamboo could create a screen for the large picture windows in the (now) green section and define the edge of the parking area about 8' in front of the entry door so you have a bit of a courtyard - consider a contemporary water feature inside that screen .. place it just to the left of the entry door landing and run it to the end of the gravel/dg area. Trim the large shrub by the front door instead of cutting it out now . . it has advantages in height for that location - trim about 2/3 of the canes out of it and see it come back this spring.

This house must have wonderful light inside. If you replace the Not original windows, don't get picture windows in that green section - definitely go for something that can open to move air flow through .. if this was used as a commercial building for a time / is on a busy road - plant more bamboo just 15' off the street on either side of the driveway in horsetroughs . . create a green privacy screen that is tall and narrow . . if bamboo isn't right for your area, consult your local nurseryman for a local similar.

I love the paint color suggestions!!! Thank you for all of your thoughtful suggestions. The current cedar siding is in pretty bad shape and the handyman has recommended replacing it before painting which makes good sense to us. We are considering vertical hardiplank siding rather than cedar due to the southwest climate. I think we could add some wood trim around the front windows and paint that gray. I'm also thinking that all of the siding should be all the same color, not half wood tone. Maybe that was what you meant. Any thoughts on these ideas?

We do have a small mountain view out the front picture windows on a quiet residential street, so the screening may not be needed , but I do like your ideas. Yes, we are considering windows that open instead of the picture windows for air flow.

Since originally posting this question, we now realize that the gravel driveway is actually pea gravel on top of badly cracked asphalt. We are considering building a garage off the back alley to get rid of routine parking in the front of the house and to provide storage. Since this is a future retirement home, we still want to maintain the ability to drive up to the front door in case of illness or disability. There are two driveway entrances from the street, allowing the driveway to be a drive-thru rather than pull-in and back out. Also, our water supply to the house and the sewer line run underneath the the driveway area near the stained cedar part of the home, We were considering replacing the asphalt with pavers to provide an easy drive surface and access for water and sewer if needed, but maybe gravel would be just as good as long as there was enough hard surface access near the front door. This change will free up some more space in front of the picture windows in the green part of the house for some additional landscaping. Any thoughts?

Hardiplank is great stuff - they have a nice board and batten that would be terrific. Yes, all the siding should be the same color .. .glad you are on a quiet street - I would reclaim as much of the driveway for landscaping as you possibly could . . the area right in front of the picture windows needs to be an approach to the entry though . . .

Most of the reason it has no curb appeal is because there are no plantings, just what looks like a parking lot out front that spans the entire lot. Do you really need all that parking, or could you remove some of it?

I totally agree with your comment. We are considering adding parking in the back off the alley behind the property. Need to retain some parking in front since this will be our 'age in place' home.

You can do a beautiful courtyard out front with parking in front of that - all flat / useable . . open low walls between courtyard and parking - maybe a water feature or fire pit with the planting and seating and put large mod font house numbers on the low wall .. this will make a transition zone that gives you another living area / outdoor space

courtyard view/ 29th · More Info

Large ceramic planter pots by the front door (in eye popping colors- orange, turquoise if you go gray) , ornamental grasses will add to soften the sharp edges. Good luck- nice home!

Clean the siding that is stained and paint the balance gray. The door can be any color.