If I'm being honest...it looks like a Colonial trying to be Modern.

You can dress the home up however you want, but it's the architecture of it that is preventing it from ever feeling or looking modern. Without doing major changes I just don't think you'll ever get what you're trying to achieve here.

This design is essentially a home trying too hard to be something it never can. It looks better how it is now IMO

I have to agree. Ditch the wood. The new colours are nice but nothing else is needed.

You could add a small gable atop the shed roof over just that part of the front porch that is in front of the front door. Your choice for the sidewalk to the driveway from the front door can make a difference as well.

https://www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com/country-home-designs.html

https://www.front-porch-ideas-and-more.com/country-home-designs.html

http://solosumba.com/g/0711_024/

The color and planned changes look nice. I though the wood bits were a software error. They aren't needed.

I would agree that maybe the garage door and wood trim in the top photos might be a little too modern a look for your home. IMO, I would start by beefing up the pillars in front of the door. I would keep them white, but I think they should be bigger. I would go with an updated, colonial style garage door. One with maybe a row of windows at the top, with black handles and hinges. I would change the exterior lighting to larger, black fixtures. I would install a new entry system with larger sidelights. If you are staining the brick to grey (although I don't mind the red), i think a red door would look nice, and go with the colonial look. Add some more shubbery out front and I think it would look great!

I see the shutters being the biggest challenge to your goal...

If you really want to keep shutters you need to update them to a modern look:

or this:

Thanks Jamie - where are those shutters from? Based on my research, many modern/contemporary houses have also used simple louvered shutters. But I would like to look into what you show here. Need supplier name. Thanks!

They are "Mission" style shutters from timberlane.com. There are a few of them that I think they would really add to your modern look nicely. The Geometric is my favorite and the one that is in my first photo I posted above.

https://www.timberlane.com/store/product-category/exterior-shutters/mission-shutters/

Do you have a mockup of the home without shutters?

It’s going to need more than taking your mom to the Ulta counter for new eye makeup to turn her into Demi Lovato. She’s gonna need a diet and exercise program and a lot of painfully expensive cosmetic surgery. And underneath, she’ll still be the same coupon clipping, soccer van driving, giant satchel of stuff carrying, MOM. Give her a new cardigan and some rose colored mom lipstick and call it good.

Stop with trying to make over this house into something that looks far far worse than if you just accepted what it IS.

Sophie ...I think it might be time for you to consider taking on a new career...in stand up comedy....seriously

Sophie, if your client said they wanted an "updated Garrison Colonial with current touches" what would you suggest? You said it would be good with a new cardigan and some rose colored lipstick but what does that mean in terms of professional advice on what should be done?

personally, I think any style shutter does not belong with a modern (or midcentury modern) style. if you are trying to take the colonial out, take those out. is there any way you can do a model without them?

I like your color and trim choices, esp in the first photo. I don't like the landscaping in the model though. needs bigger/more plants around the perimeter, maybe some big planters too, and a paving stone walkway or something.

(I don't love the white rocks in this one above, but I do like the paving stones and big planters.)

Sophie - I appreciate your wry sense of humor but agree with @partim. Do you have any constructive comments on how to give this home an updated look? Thanks.

B F - I can certainly model it without the shutters. But I don't think the house will look good without them. Just too much empty space. That's OK, we're going to keep the Colonial flavor. Just a 2018 refresh. Also, the landscaping shown is simply a very basic placeholder. We'll do a full landscape design soon. Thanks for your positive feedback.

Step away from the harsh white into a softer greige or ivory that blends better with the brick. Shutters that don’t look like the clearance special at Menards. Not louvered. And in a dark brown with some red. An earthy green door. Continue the porch across the front if you can get more roofing to match.

A better looking but still traditional garage door. Which I think you could fake the existing with some added molding pieces as muntins and panels, and paint.

Some beefier posts. Which you can easily encase the existing ones and add moldings to create.

And then cleaup that driveway and add brick edging that matches the house as closely as you can get. Landscaping can do the rest. It looks stark and slate because it has no connection to its surroundings through appropriate landscaping.

I like a lot of elements of your design.

Definitely something needs to change. .. . Something about the house as it is now makes it look a bit cheap. I thought about it and thought about it, and I think its the lack of an overhang on the second floor and along the sides of the roof. The house almost looks like a 3D shape on an SAT test. "Which shape is the odd one out? A, B, C, or D?" I think just exterior paint would go a long way. I like your choice of gray. Yes, painting the siding gray and leaving the trim around the windows, etc. white will give it more depth. And will make it seem less like a geometric shape and more like the nice house that it is / could be. To be honest, I'd probably do that before making any more drastic moves and see if that does the trick

Putting a new front and garage door isn’t really making it modern is it?? On another style house sure but yours? I think I’d go closer to the style of house you’re given and modernize the inside.

Something similar to the below would I think make more sense. I’d prob do wood stained shutters and columns