Additional photos. We live in Pennsylvania

Hello, cute house! I'm in PA too. Have you measured the front yard? The area is small enough that you could skip grass on the left side and fill the space in with plants and mulch, which shouldn't be very time consuming or expensive. Alternately, a strip of grass running across the front would be a nice way of emphasizing the symmetry of the house. It would look nice to have matching evergreen shrubs flanking the front door, with flowering shrubs in front of those for color, and whatever perennials and ground covers you like to fill in the rest.

Whatever you do on the right side, make sure to avoid really wavy garden bed edges or any shapes that would be difficult to mow around. Other general advice: avoid invasive plants/check out natives, call 811 before digging, and use a hose to test out garden bed shapes.

What tree and plants do you have already? Planting zone? From what I can see in the photos, the neighborhood has plenty of mature trees but your yard looks to get a fair amount of light--which way does the house face?

It won't help the overall appearance to make the landscape busy. Place shrubs below the windows. (The ones at the right side are planted too close to the house and you've let them grow to large. Maybe you want to start them over in the interest of a cohesive front foundation planting.) Place sod next to the drive and walk and something colorful near the outside corners of the house. Cut off the sewer cleanout to be flush with the grade; don't leave it sticking up.

Thanks commenters!
We are left with this due to a huge plumbing issue and there was more ground here initially, which is why the pipe is high right now ( plumber said they’d come make it shorter once we got the huge pile of dirt removed ) . We’d try to hide this by putting a plant in front of it I guess?

We only moved in a year ago so what we have are Weigela bushes In the front I believe, and a “dwarf peach tree”. There were a bunch of other things in the yard and it was mulched before this all happened but all placed by owners before us.

We’re planing zone 7 and the house faces West.

I like the idea of shrubs with smaller plants in front for color. Yardvark you think shrubs should overall be shorter or just this shrubs looks out of control? I like the idea of keeping things symmetrical I think. What are your thoughts on a small mulched area on either side of the center walkway with symmetric clean looking plants which could help hide the pipe too?

Yardvaark I just saw your picture I guess I didn’t scroll down enough! Thanks so much for the image! I do like that again for the symmetry but I guess I have the same question about my flowers down the walkway ( we also have those solar powered lights that used to line the walk we were thinking of adding back in ). Any suggestions on actual plants? Thanks again!

It's a common thing to line the edge of walks with plants. It's the first landscape project I ever did when I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Now that I've spent a whole lifetime looking at landscapes, I think it's a UNIVERSALLY BAD IDEA. I can't think of any circumstances that change it into a good idea. But if you're set on it, it's your yard and you can do as you please. From my position, it'd be impossible to make recommendations for plants to help you do this though. It'd be like not believing in suicide but making recommendations on what kind of a gun and ammunition you should buy to kill yourself. I feel about the same way for solar lights edging a walk. They look really junky. There REAL landscape lights one could use instead.

Is it a good idea to allow shrubs to grow tall enough such that they start hiding windows? In general, it gives the look of neglect. The existing shrubs are not crazy out of control, but we can see they'd be headed in that direction if someone took a couple of months off the landscape detail. Just giving the heads up.

Why would you plant ANYTHING in front of the pipe sticking up ... when the plumbers are going to return and cut it off?

Yardvark I am not set on anything which is why I am here genuinely asking for advice, I appreciate your input. I don’t know anything about landscaping and am starting from scratch against my will but want it to look nice.
I meant plants in general not just for the walkway (although didn’t know you were so opposed when asking).
Also I was afraid the pipe would still be visible, I don’t know how flush with the grass/ground they can make the pipe. and I guess I see trees and pushes peeking in front of porches a lot in my neighborhood but probably done more so for privacy which mine aren’t achieving

"... (although didn’t know you were so opposed when asking)." You're not just asking me, you're asking others here and I'm sure some will disagree (vehemently even!) with my ideas about planting schemes. You'll just have to pick through the advice, making your best call.

"... Also I was afraid the pipe would still be visible ..." If you have a small, flat circle of white in the lawn (which you can paint green like grass) will it be more visible than a much larger (which all plants will be) plant placed over it? A plant, regardless of its personal beauty, plopped in the middle of the lawn is going to look every bit as out-of-place as a pipe. You would just be growing the pipe's being out of place, larger.

I see a small tree at the right of your house and presume it will get much larger. And a see a large one is at the left side in your neighbor's yard. And your driveway is taking up the left side of the front yard, which is very small. If you can find a spot for a tree, there's no reason you couldn't get it. I just couldn't find the spot. I couldn't find a spot for more shrubs either.

Yes you’re right about the pipe! Hopefully they can make it nice and flat and painting it is a good idea. Sadly the driveway on the left is our neighbors and ours is on the far right out of the picture (our garage is under the porch and not very functional), which is why I considered putting a row of taller bushes for privacy along the left side against the driveway for privacy/hide their car (although my husband thought that would look bad). The tree shouldn’t get much larger I was told it is a dwarf peach tree and should stay about that size.

I guess I was seeing this as an opportunity to do something “wow” (and we have an 8 day staycation next week and this is will be our project haha), but maybe we should keep it simple with sod and shrubs and could always add down the road if we wanted!

"... (although my husband thought that [tall shrubs lining left driveway] would look bad)." For sure he is right because, given the location, it would appear as if you're screening your own driveway, regardless of the fact of who actually owns it. And tall bushes = fat bushes, in most cases. They'd likely take up a good chunk of the left side of your yard, and cover a lot of house. With a small yard, you do not get to make landscape decisions as if you are doing the Biltmore Estate.

"Dwarf" means -- smaller than the full size. If a full size peach is 25' tall. A dwarf might be 15' in a few years. Maybe a few years later it will be 20'. It will definitely get much fuller and bigger than it is now.

Don't you think if you trim your trees and shrubs properly and impeccably into shapes that are gorgeous year 'round, plant something exciting, colorful and sized well at the corners, grow some rich, deep-velvety-green weed-free lawn ... that your home will actually look quite handsome ...? Keep in mind, too, that the plants you select and use will determine a lot of the finished flavor. You're not limited to one color and texture. Or you could plant a riot of colors and shapes bursting out of every possible place and see if it really does end up looking obstructed and junky. I think it's practical to plant a simple scheme and easy to add to it later if you think it need pizzaz. Earlier you said you "didn't know much about landscaping." Consider that a busy scheme is more high maintenance than a simple scheme is. You might want to start with the basics and test the waters before you go hog wild making something difficult to care for, and then lose control of it.