Hanging garden trellises look great when hung from a porch.

Hanging Garden Trellis · More Info

Hanging Garden Trellis · More Info

Hanging Garden Trellis · More Info

I would widen and pave the pathway from the driveway to the front step. You could construct this in pavingstone or flagstone depending on budget. If its in the cards, you could clad the front porch and stairs with flagstone.

I would hide the front porch wall with a short hedge like Boxwood or Dense Yew. Widen the plant bed on the left hand side and add a specimen tree with some height and colour. Underneath the specimen add a combination of shrubs, perennials and perhaps rockery. Pave the driveway with asphalt and maybe put a stone border on it.

I do like the idea of hanging pots because of the height of the front porch. It could be just the time of year, but you need some colour. Nice house though, good luck!

change out the arched fascia boards for straight perhaps, and beef up the posts. porches have been around forever but your arched design with slender posts was just a moment in time.

your shutters are also quite narrow, they can never be the right size to cover the window but they could be stronger than now.

Hi mattzac,

What a nice Colonial you have on your hands! We would start by taking the shutters off the bay window as they, like your other shutters, are not sized properly to fit over the windows. It's hard to judge from the images if you have enough room on the first level windows to utilize properly sized shutters. Typically, on Colonial homes here are panel shutters on the first floor and louvers on the second.

If you don't think the shutters will fit then it's probably best to leave them off. Perhaps like this thread suggests, window boxes and flowers along the porch will go a long way with upping your curb appeal.

Good luck!

Remove all the shutters and the little arches running around the porch. Beef up the pencil posts , adding a 4th one on the right. Beef up the window trim all around, add window boxes to the two windows on the right and left wings of the house. Replace the sidelight panels so that new sidelights go all the way down to the bottom. Paint the front door black. Add soft open planting beds everywhere.

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