I'd say big fat columns, a little landscaping, and you're done! If you go with gray, then yes, I'd paint the brick as well for continuity.

How can we build the big fat columns? I want to redo the railing, too. We've had trouble finding someone to tackle this project so we are considering doing it ourselves.

What a darling home you have!. I would beef up the columns - a bright front door color would be nice. I would keep all the shutters the same color to tie in the house and I would pick a color that enhances the brick (or you could paint the brick).

I have seen column "wrapping" supplies at Home Depot. They are precut pieces of lumber that fit over existing support jacks that you can install yourself. I am sure they have different styles of columns.
I would not spend the time or the money to remove any of this just to put it back up unless you actually are having structural changes made.

That's the crazy thing. We simply want to improve the aesthetics of our home. No structural changes are needed. I've looked at some of the columns at Home Depot but they were round. I like the square better. The website @inabumker mentioned is one I've looked at before but I am nervous to tackle this project on my own.

As far as the landscaping goes, I would definitely add some height (i.e. arbor vitae or other tall evergreen shrubs) as well as smaller evergreen shrubs (boxwood) in front of the porch. You can add pops of color with perennial flowers and/or hanging boxes on the second floor railing.
I would also change out your lighting fixtures to something more substantial to pop against the gray or existing color, I would choose something in black.

Your home is lovely and does not need much to be great . I think you need to paint the top siding a color that is in the brick - Ranchwood CC - 500 from Benjamin Moore Paints. The new columns should be 8 to 10 inch square and are full height from ground to roof line and painted the ranchwood color. The shutters are fine being black but I would also add shutters to the door on the upper level . Then add railings between the columns either the same color as the columns or black wrought iron. Paint your garage door that same color also. Anything thats white now should be the Ranchwood color. If you can find a grey color in the brick then go with a grey if you like. Add some trees and a little more landscaping. Make your house numbers bigger and more visible.Consider adding a side walk that goes to your front door instead of having to use the driveway.All this will make your home more welcoming.

As a Boston General Contractor who is listening to the conversation a couple of comments even with limited information. The wrought iron columns do not look adequate to support the roof. I don't know where you live but around here these would not be code compliant. My recommendation is to replace the wrought iron posts and railings with square Timbertech columns and their railing system. http://www.timbertech.com
I would personally stay with white and because you would have a more substantial post and railing system you would add balance to the look of the house. Also, you would have more privacy on the porch....nice place of a table and chairs, colored wall accents...
The Timbertech posts are not load bearing so they would be a sleeve around a 4x4 post. This not a "big" project but definitely must be done by a qualified contractor. I attached a picture of a porch we rebuilt that has Timbertech posts and railings and also is skirted with lattice. The entire porch, other than the structural components is maintenance free...plastic.
Add some plants, hangers ...nice new look to the house! Good luck.

I love all of these ideas and I am so grateful for your input. Thank you!!

I have a home that is remarkably similar to yours. I have white siding as well, so I went with black shutters and a red door to make it pop. The brick on my house was faded so I repainted individual bricks randomly black and white (the original colors). Someday I will replace the brick, anyway...

Since your house is angular, you want to balance it out with asymetrical flower beds. A raised border using pavers is a nice look. Have fun with it! Maybe weave an irregular border toward your driveway, or let it snake around the other side of the house. The key is to avoid rectangles. Plant small bushes or ornamental trees at the sides and randomly in the middle, and fill in with perennials such as hosta, hydrangea or rhododendrons.

As far as the supports go, if you have room to build around the top supports, you could try to match them by building square wood facades around them. If you're handy with a table saw and paint, the hardest part is measuring and installing them. For a finished look, install moulding at the bottom. If you have sufficient room, you could even build a two-layer facade around each support, which mimics the shaker style (like the kitchen cabinets). If you're really feeling fancy, you could paint the inner square of the shaker style beams black to match your shutters.

Have fun decorating!

I would say YES, paint the brick to match the house, add heavier columns and add lots of gingerbread or Fretwork to the porches. Flower boxes from the upper railings with trailing plants. Also, matching railings on the bottom porch to add continuity. Front door should be a solid wood in black or a cheery red.

All great ideas on the house itself, but I would add large front beds of perennials, specimen trees and interesting shrubs. Take a garden hose and play with random shapes, once you have what you like, spray the line and take out the sod. Add lots of organic mulch and top soil to build them up and have fun planting.

If you live in a cold climate, painting the brick can become a maintenance headache. I don't know if there are similar problems further south, but I think you can make the house look more cohesive simply with your paint choices for siding and trim. I think a fairly dark gray - to match the value of the brick - would look nice with the brick and bring the facade together. If you do decide to paint the brick, I would still stay with a medium-to-dark color, something with some presence (a deep gray or deep wheat color - which also looks very classic with black shutters and could also be used with the plain brick). I, too, would keep the columns/trim white, definitely add beefier columns and railings, add shutters to the doors, and paint the door an accent color, but paint the garage door the siding color, so it doesn't stand out. Also, shutters should be HALF the window width in order not to look skimpy (and to look realistic), which means it looks like you could use new ones. Some nice detail could be added here by adding fake hinges and shutterdogs. Also, you might consider board and batten shutters (you could build these easily yourself ) or a raised panel shutter, instead of the typical louvered look. The small window would look nice with one wide shutter, rather than two. The correct shutters can add a LOAD of charm to a facade.

As for landscaping, I think it would look very nice with your almost-symmetrical facade to add a front walk straight to the front door - all brick, or maybe another material with a brick edging - with a hedge on either side. If this isn't possible, I would add two similar beds on either side of the porch. On the left, I would extend a bed out to the other side of the walk, to make if feel more welcoming and enclosed. Bring the other side out the same depth, maybe even swooping it out a bit beyond to the front - if you did that, you might want to add a small ornamental flowering tree (crabapple, etc.) at the "point". It looks

Sorry - got cut off. It looks like you have one step down from the porch - consider widening this and widening the walk at this point, to make it feel more welcoming. Add some structure with shrubs (inquire locally), and use groundcover, perhaps with a few select perennials/flowering shrubs (peonies, dwarf lilacs, etc.) in the beds, but add a lot of color and height through annual plantings in big black urns on either side of the front door. Add a nice doorknocker, a large, classic lantern (or two, if you can), window boxes spilling off the balcony and it will be stunning! Perhaps you could find a vintage bench for the front porch, and maybe a cafe set for the balcony. Be sure to post "after" photos -- I can't wait to see what you do!

Here is a photo I found with square columns: http://www.google.com/imgres?start=163&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=653&tbm=isch&tbnid=cDYzh11320rEjM:&imgrefurl=http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/vacation-rentals/New-Orleans-Louisiana-vacation-rental-home-proID-29751.html&docid=bInPwK2Q4ZruQM&imgurl=http://assets.vacationhomerentals.com/assets/properties/2007/08/10/29751/thumb4_img_0083.jpg&w=500&h=330&ei=TtBgT4vUOs-XtweO-cGqBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=184&vpy=368&dur=818&hovh=182&hovw=276&tx=170&ty=171&sig=107103969517300999052&page=9&tbnh=140&tbnw=187&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:163

Here are board-and-batten shutters on doors
traditional exterior design by other metros architect

Love your house! You might consider putting trading the upstairs dooe for a window and putting the door in the middle if that is do-able per the room settings upstairs.t here...By doing that, the froant of the house would be more balanced. I agree with an above comment. The house has many sharp angles and needs to be softened up a bit. That would work with bydranga or azaleas in the front. Consider a paved walkway as well, to the driveway. It is crazy how a pretty walkway can change the entire facade of the house. Depending on where you live, a flowering tree in front would be nice in the spring and would soften the look a bit. Have fun.

(please excuse my typos above. I didnt proof it, as you can see!)

I recently did a design for the renovation of a very similar house...this might be helpful to you. Click on the link to to see the article in This Old House Magazine's Photoshop Redo column: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20562455,00.html.

Jon I love what you did with the house in the magazine. Mecomom, larger columns will do much for your house. I, too, prefer square colums. I would put the same type on the top and botto level. for the railing, i would use a simple, straight system with a significant appearance. Victorian often looks dainty to me - your house is crying to be beefed up. I would almost suggest columns on the bottom row fitting of a craftsman style - brick or stone piers with colums atop. Of course, the upper level couldn't accomodate piers, just a continuation of the columns. Landscaping, especially some taller shrubs, would help ground your home. Lovely home with lots of potential!

Jon, that house you did is incredible! Any chance you work in OK? Thanks again everyone for your comments! I agree our home has lots of potential and I can't wait to attach the "after" shots. Keep the ideas coming!!! So many great minds at work!

where are you located? That will dictate a great deal.. The Columns need beefing up or doubled up. The railing would need to beef up as well. Shutters should be workable as well as fit the windows. Plaster the brick then score back. Painting brick will lock the pores and give rise to moisture in the wall cavity. Landscaping will do a great deal. Getting a feel for the neighborhood too will make a number of the decisions.

Love Jon's photoshop redo. I only thing I would do different is to use louvered shutters on the house. Then to hide your door on the porch upstairs, add floor to ceiling shutters or shutters on top of the railing but just between those 2 columns. I'm from the South and that's how we do it.
Good luck!

Make front porch and entry more prominent with landscaping proportionate to house and maybe a curvy new path up to front door

Definitely beef up the posts, which a carpenter can do just creating a box around your existing columns. Also, painting the brick is a must. I would paint the brick a cream and the house possibly a light taupe with black shutters and gloss black door with a brass kickplate and large brass handle. Larger, black light fixtures. For the front yard, create semi-circlular beds at the front of the house on either side of the steps extending from the outside of the porch to the steps. Line the front edge of each planting area with box hedge and then do something higher at the back of the beds with pretty flowers in between. Also, line the front walk with box hedge and throw some seed on your lawn, feed and water. A topiary on either side of the front door will really make a lovely statement and frame the front door. Maybe some pretty flowers at the base of the planter.

Also, shutter the door upstairs as someone else suggested:)

I started by just playing with some of the ideas folks shared - really like the 'Ranchwood' paint color - then incorporated a few of my own.

What's been done:
- LEFT SECTION: Closed in left top balcony using shake as the ext. covering as opposed to siding and added a window box. (Recycled the existing window.) Added trelis.:
- CTR SECTION: Extended the center section (2'-6" offset) from 1st floor line to roof w/ brick facade; covered with hip roof; cut opening in center on top level to keep an open feeling in the balcony area and allow the existing window to be seen as well as receive natural light. Added a shed roof w/ brackets over entry.
-UPPER RT. SECTION: Added 2nd door and painted raling black - beefed up post.
-LOWER RT. SECTION: added 1/2 wall; upper triangular fillers in corners which meet in the ctr to create arched effect; replaced existing window & shutters with twin window.
- WINDOWS - added mullions.
- LANDSCAPE --- Utilized the many of ideas of earlier contributors.

Wow, love the rendering, by Alderman! Does anyone know, if there is some Free software out there, that you can do this with? I've got a lot of ideas from my home and would love to see a picture of what I have proposed.

oh my

Hey there, this was a quicky done w/ photoshop -- you can puchase the software from Adobe --- I think pse is about $100 ---- just cut/clip and past your ideas -- resizing as needed. This was a pretty messy job, but a way to 'try on' some ideas. As for 'free' -- you probaby have some sort of photo editor or can join Picasa on-line and play a bit. In the olden days, I used to use text boxes in msword to past picture parts on top of photos. I really prefer to sketch, but have a broken wrist right now. :(

Wow, Thanks, Alderman! I uploaded a picture of my house the other day, with the ideas that I have and I was Hoping someone would do a rendering for me. I should have finished my degree. I took some drawing classes & CAD and really enjoyed it.

Kid Friendly Yard - I noticed 4-young children in the picture. Are they still playing in the front yard? If so this yard needs to appeal to the adults and kids. Paint the fence the same color as the siding. Choose a fun color like a blue or green with white or cream for the trim and new columns. A wide interlocking brick pathway from the porch to a sideyard seating area would allow for the powerwheels and bikes to stay in the yard but not on the grass. Create a circular seating area with the interlocking bricks (think Wizard of Oz). Use a local metal and wood designer or DIY seating out of flea market finds. Make a wide, 3 tiered planting bed along the fence row. In the back plant, Dr. Seuss tree evergreens in corkscrew and other shapes. In the center make some landscape art out of copper plumbing pipes (see Internet for ideas). The middle tier would be a mix of mounded plants like Top Hat Blueberries, Artemesia and perennial flowers in your fave colors. The bottom row is for the little ones, marigolds planted from seed, petunias, snapdragons etc. Extend your flower garden along the porch with a trellis on either end planted with clematis and moonflower. Build or buy two hanging swings for the lower porch, Put a sophisticated day bed on the upper porch by the master bedroom. Have fun decorating your lovely home.