I like judiths ideas above. I would also trim down the bush covering the left window, and extend the mulch bed out to the side enough to plant a skinny upright evergreen tree - then do the same thing to right of garage. you need something tall and thin in the left corner of entry niche - metal sculpture, good quality fake topiary, ?.

I love the suggestions here. Technically, shutters should be in proportion to the window which is why Judith said there's not enough room. I know not everyone pays attention to that. I know someone who put shutters on, of all things, a garden window. Looks a little silly. The blue-green color Judith suggested sounds lovely.

I like the red door. You could paint the garage door the blue-green color or a dark mushroom gray and add shutters to match if you can find some that fit. Window boxes are also nice. I picture some red flowers planted in them to match the door. You house is very attractive. I like the brick very much.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far. I really appreciate you taking the time to do the photoshop Judith. I see what you mean about the proportions of the upper and lower windows. I am a little reluctant to do window boxes as we live in Ontario and would only be able to grow something in them for part of the year. My concern would be that they would look great in the summer but might detract from the appearance of the house over the winter months. I'm definitely going to give it some more thought though and might further explore that option

I definitely agree that the bush out front either needs a major trimming or should go altogether.

I've done some measuring and could fit 9" shutters no problem between the edge of the window frame and the brick quoins with about an inch to spare. The proportions wouldn't be quite right as the windows are 44" wide but it might still look okay. I'll try to photoshop it later and post it here.

Thanks again for your comments so far.

No on the shutters and here's an excellent treatise on why not. Removal of the hulking bush on the left would be my priority. Looks like a hydrangea beside it which I like. Here are a couple of ways you could enhance the windows.
http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/residential-architecture-101-shutters/

Judith has some goods ideas, especially the colors for the doors as this will complement the roof shingles. You don't have the necessary space for shutters and they are not in keeping with the architecture. Consider upgrading your front door stoop and front walk with a nice paver that repeats the colors of the brick siding or a bluestone if you choose blue colors for your doors. The shrubs at the front of the house should be removed in favor of something that won't grow over the windows as the current shrubs have. Consider plants that are native to your area. You could use large shrubs, especially something with height along the side of the house, this will provide more privacy for the backyard as well. Also expand the planting beds as it looks like you have a large expanse of lawn, add some curves for interest. Use planters along-side the front door to add plant texture and color there. You could also use a larger light fixture and coordinate the finish of your house number to the fixture since they are in close proximity to each other.

Agree with deco, no shutters. Read the article she posted. It is worth the few minutes to understand why shutters won't work on your home. Use other architectural elements :)

After reading the article posted by Decoenthusiaste, and doing a bit of photoshopping, I'm certainly leaning away from shutters. Even with a 9" shutter on either side, they look pretty narrow. Does anybody have any experience painting vinyl windows? I think one of the issues might be that the white trim around the windows and light grey siding/soffits clash.

My main thought with shutters was that I might be able to tie in some of the light grey colour on the front of the house to balance things out. What if I painted just the front door and garage door in a complimentary colour? I could always try painting the windows the same colour as the siding to bring the house back to it's original look from 25 years ago, however I've heard that painting vinyl can cause UV issues if not done correctly.

The large bush on the left side of the house will be going soon. I was thinking about doing a tall narrow cedar to the left of the house and extending the mulch bed out as Bgfuqua suggested.

BTW, I wouldn't do purple shutters as in the photo above. They were just easy to paste into the photo. If I was to do it, they would be more of a bluish grey. As I mentioned above though, I am leaning away from shutters as the proportions would be incorrect. What do you guys think?

Great idea to not have shutters at all - because of the proportions.
The garage door should be painted a color to blend with the brick so it recedes. The front door could use a bright color. Landscaping is where you will get curb appeal. Also consider adding a couple (3) different sized colorful urn type planters on your porch near the front door to brighten up your entry.
A vignette something like this one (only this one is not as modern as yours should be...)

No shutters. In addition to being out of proportion, they would detract from the brick quoins.

This photo in the link from decoenthusiaste reminds me of the friend I mentioned who put shutters on her garden window. Yikes.

Other than landscaping I think you house looks very nice just the way it is.

I like Judith's idea of painting the garage door and adding window boxes. I would add some colorful plants. I think that it would be great if you got rid of that bush like you said and added a ceder instead.

Landscaping is a great option. Handscaping in particular. Here's a project we did with landscape curbing

Leave the white vinyl trim alone. It looks fine and is low maintenance.

First of all, I agree with leaving the white vinyl trim alone! Secondly, I love the idea of the shutters on the single upper window to elongate that one. It seems to add a perfect balance and appears to complete the space. Also, I do like the idea of the garage, door and shutter being of the same color. The blue green looked very nice. Next, the idea presented by decoenthusiaste, of an roof structure over the two windows is a wonderful concept which could break up the space and create a unity and may be a more suited to your climate versus a window box. We chose a brow over our lower windows similiar to what is shown here on this link and displayed on their upper. On a side note, we also live in a northern climate and I place pine bows in our window boxes for the winter months. It is lovely if you decide to go that route. The next note of opinion I have...what desperately screamed at me when I first read you were to do curb appeal, upon review of the photo's...LANDSCAPE. That shrubbery on the corner of the house and the other one immediately in front of the sidewalk are not good and could be taken out. The clean sweep of the following landscaping concept seems to be in line with what could work in your space. Notice how the tree is moved out from the house. A shrub/climbing rose which is native to your area is the William Baffin. You may consider that for along the side of your home to introduce some wonderful ever blooming color throughout summer months and soften that side while giving your back play area privacy. And finally, I love the idea of a little vignette on the porch. Be it an inexpensive chair found on a curb, at a garage sale, or wherever, just something you could paint a wonderful eclectic color to sit on the one side of the door underneath the lighting. Do an urn along side of and possibly outdoor wall art in the space. Create that appeal to draw to the door which welcomes your guests. Best of luck!

good heavens no shudders! Oh, I mean shutters, on this house, please. judith has given you some great ideas. Close the space between upper and lower windows with flower boxes, downplay white garage door, trim shrub to left, and also consider painting porch floor and step same greyest blue. Best wishes

Thanks for the ideas and help so far. A lot of the houses in my neighbourhood have shutters which is probably a big part of the reason I was considering adding them. I've reconsidered adding them to all windows after reading the article on shutter proportions and reviewing some of your helpful responses.

Heres what I'm thinking so far:
1. Remove the big shrub from the front left corner and transplant so of the plants to spread them out.
2. Look at adding a tall narrow spruce or cedar and extending the mulch bed to the left of the house.
3. Add shutters only to the middle window over the front door in a colour complimentary to the roof shingles. soffits. fascia and siding.
4. Paint the garage door the same colour as the middle window shutters, add a plaque for our house number painted the same colour, and repaint the mailbox to match.
5. Keep a bold different colour for the front door to add interest.
6. I would still like to add some sort of architectural detail to the left part of the house with the four windows. So far the options seem to be: window boxes, awnings, or an octagonal gable vent.

I'm interested in the idea of window boxes, however in our Canadian climate, they would only be able to have flowers for roughly 1/3 of the year. I could try some other sort of low maintenance plants as an option. The other concern with window boxes is their accessibility for ongoing maintenance. We would have to remove the second floor screens in order to have access or would have to use an extension ladder. There are some available at Home Depot which look quite nice and are inexpensive (see attached photo)

Awnings are one option, but they are quite expensive and I'm not sure they would improve the appearance of the home. I could easily build something myself, but I'll have to keep looking for more ideas.

A gable vent would tie in with the octagonal window to the right of the front door, however it might look goofy above the second floor windows.

I've got lots to think about while I get started on the landscaping.

-Duncan

Duncan, after looking again at your home here are my thoughts:
1) Yes on removing the big shrub to the left of your front door
2) Yes extending the planting area - extend it to wrap around the corner too.
3) Not a fan of shutters on middle window but you have room. They would have to be much wider than what you are showing in your pic above
4) Don't paint the garage door the gray you show - it draws too much attention to the garage door and not enough attention to the front door. Paint it a color to either blend with the brick or a shade or two darker.
5) Yes, architectural detail on the left side as well as landscaping will help.

The one thing we all missed is this: your front door is floating off the ground...
It needs to be connected to the ground. You can do that through color too. Emphasize the trim around your octagonal window and put a planter (one) or three tall urns on the porch to the left of the door.

Denita, I noticed the floating door but wasn't sure how to handle it. You mentioned correcting it with color...would that be with paint or something else?

If you look at this home your eye goes right to the front door because it contrasts with the colors of the house and the door is connected to the ground (visually)

Different style house below, but you can see where visually the front door is connected to the ground through color (darker gray slate on concrete porch)


chloebud, I think that if a dark gray or other dark color for the concrete deck is used + either a piece of trim or just paint from the door threshold down to the deck will ground the door. Similar to painting risers on stairs.

Have you considered a narrow white pergola stretching across the front of the house? It could be attached to the garage and porch roof lines and follow their slopes.

Picture the first 2 images cut down to a smaller size, or the third one with posts.

You could also extend the front door pad out the to boundary of the pergola. Or, create a mini deck over the existing slab, raising that surface o eliminate the floating door. You could have a broad step down from the new desk surface to the sidewalk.

We had second floor window boxes on our last home. Went to Home Depot, picked up some pvc piping and created an arm to place onto the hose for watering from the outside. The arm went straight up, L'd in and then down a few inches to direct the water toward the box. Definitely extend planting area. Denita makes a good point of the floating front door. You actually have enough space (it appears from the photo) to do a little platform step to jus underneath the door and painting it the same color as the door. Again, may result in including an eye draw...

Love the pergola idea! Clever!

I noted the floating front door and suggested painting the front deck the same color as the grey-ish trim suggested. Maybe event the stoop below the front door too? Duncan, don't feel you need to add anything to the left side of your house. First take care of the garage door, the landscaping, the front door and porch, the fascia, etc. Then take another look. I know this sounds goofy as well, but even empty planter boxes look better than out-of-place shutters!

You guys have me thinking now about the front porch area. The concrete slab has a hairline crack though the middle of it which is kind of ugly. I could build a porch on top of the slab using grey composite deck boards and tie that into the front door colour to take care of the 'floating door' issue. I could also mirror the colour of the composite deck on the mailbox, house number and garage door. At the same time, I could add a white composite railing on either side of the front door and step. The white railing would help to tie in with the white vinyl windows on the rest of the house.

Good comments Denita. Regarding the landscape, the left side of your house has a strong vertical presence therefore I don't think the tall narrow spruce or cedar is the right choice. I would definitely extend the bed out but choose a focal point/ornamental tree with some spread, but not something that gets to massive. I'm not familiar with what would do best in your climate, but would suggest something with an interesting growth pattern, a flowering tree or something with an ornamental leaf. Some thoughts: Tree Hydrangae, Witch Hazel, Doublefile Viburnum, Styrax (Snowbell is nice), Japanese Maple, or a multi trunk birch, one that doesn't get too big. . ..

Composite Porch railings

One more thing that would help is a walkway to the front door. Straight to the front and landscaped. Make sure the walkway is at least 42" to 48" wide so you get that "welcome home" appearance. It will give you tremendous curb appeal. Here are a couple of vastly different examples:

I love the pergola idea too

I like the idea of not using shutters on the bottom but add a set for the upper windows. Right now your garage is white. I'd keep the vinyl white, the garage white and then paint the upper shutters white. I also like the idea of window boxes. You could change the plants with the seasons. Since it will be up high, you could get away with a good fake plant, maybe something trailing, like ivy. This would be a great start. Then, later on if you don't like the white you can paint the shutters and garage door. If you paint the front door, I'd make it a brighter red. I Googled grey houses with red doors and there were tons of examples. Instead of white shutters, you could do black shutters too.

Would this be an improvement with the whole floating door issue? Done in MS-Paint, but just as an idea

To me the railings aren't the right style and they don't solve the floating door issue. In fact, they close off your entry IMO.

Other variations

How would it look to photo shop with Pergola over the two windows only?

Like this?

I also think a pergola over the two bottom windows would work well, but one that is more modern or transitional type, something like this (ignore the pool) :)


Or this one


Or this

All that pergola stuff in the front ruins the integrity of the house design. Keeping things simple usually is the direction I prefer.

Concentrate on the front door and entry. Nothing says home like a lovely entry! Diminish the garage nothing says blah like a garage house! ALSO - a more significant and nicer front porch light would help too!

rainymorning and kmkane have valid points. Concentrate first on the entry. Once you get the entry done, garage door painted so it blends, shutters removed, landscaping and the walkway installed then post updated photos to see if you need to do anything else. It is very possible the pergola will be too much after all the changes. Small changes make a big difference.

One of the problems I found while working with the image in Paint is that the recessed doorway in very dark. The vines on the garage wall add to that feeling (and can't be doing the brickwork any good). Decking over the concrete will bring a better texture to the area, but extend the decking out to the front of the garage.

Lighten the colors in the doorway by painting the door a brighter shade, changing to a white and bigger light fixture. Possibly add white or light blue Adirondack chairs on the bigger deck. Once the doorway gets you attention the other changes may not be needed

I agree with kmkane, and others: "Concentrate on the front door and entry." The house is nice. The Dullness you sense is, I submit, because your entry has no presence. The porch and railing may help, but, I think your front door originally should have been trimmed out more. For example, sidelights would have been good. However, you could add some wider trim--perhaps even pilasters--to give it more importance. Here's a shot of a front door with both pilasters and shutters--although your little window would prevent using both.

I like the contrast of the white trim on the windows. Adding more white trim around the house could tie them to the rest of the house.maybe add white planter boxes flanking the front walk. We have neighbors with window boxes on the second floor and they use silk foliage to battle our harsh Texas sun. You can use evergreen boughs, pumpkins, pine cones and other decor to fill "planters" with seasonal color. What ever you plant in front of the windows make sure it is low growing so you don't have to trim it as often. I'd work on landscaping instead of paint other than brightening the door.

Thanks for the suggestions and ideas everyone. Sorry for the delay in my response. I've been really busy with work, kids etc and the weather is starting to get really nice here in Ontario. For now I'm going to start with:

-fixing the landscaping and removing some of the overgrown bushes out front.
-painting the garage door the same colour as the eavestrough and siding to tie it in and make it less noticeable
-adding a plaque behind the house number in the same colour as the garage door and siding to tie it in

I'll post some pics after I've done that. Once that is complete, I'm doing to look at how to deal with the 'floating door' and front walkway. We will also be replacing the bottom two windows. Do you guys think I should stick with double hung windows or would crank out casement windows better suit the architecture of the house?

Cheers.

As a side note, after reading articles about shutter proportions etc. I've noticed that most houses in my neighbourhood have incorrectly sized or placed shutters. I think this May be part of the reason I was considering them as the majority of the houses in the area have them. Some even have banks of three casement windows together with skinny shutters on either side. Interesting.

Duncan, I'd say the majority of shutters I see on homes are sized wrong. Sometimes it's not so bad, but others are just plain out there.

Traditionally, shutters should be half the width of your window. This was back when windows were much smaller, and all shutters were operable (swinging). Nowadays, most homeowners add shutters that are 12-18"W depending on their windows. Go for a visually pleasing proportional look. You can still add operable shutter hardware for aesthetics, or go with faux hinges or S-Holdbacks.

In the end, Duncan, I hope you post the snaps of your finished product! Also, in regards to shutters we had our custom made to look like a real shutter which should actually be able to cover the window if they were to close. Once again this is a personal preference. Best of luck and excited to see the finished product.

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