Yeah, it needs a little something in terms of a railing--maybe some pretty metal work? If it's sunny there you could plant some climbing roses or clematis, unless you don't want bees near your front porch. If you don't, I wouldn't plant things like Russian Sage, etc. When you're fumbling for your keys to get inside the bees may bother you. If you want something to cover that window, or don't mind if it does, then I think some miscanthus sinesis would be cool right there...or any other ornamental grass with nice plumes. You'd have to give the grasses some good compost worked into that soil of course.

I'm not seeing the stone. It seems like there is so much texture going on already with the brick and the dimensional roof shingles that more texture is going to take it downhill and confuse the overall look. I actually like your current columns very much. I think the right paint choices will make the most of them. They are a lovely detail on your house. As for the windows, I had some similar "wrong" ones--plain casements on the second story of my 1929 Tudor. I couldn't replace them so I got corner brackets that fit inside the upper corners, sort of like gingerbread but more plain, and screwed them to the inside of the top of each window so it gives an arch to the overall shape of each one. That helped immensely. They are painted the same color as the windows on the outside so they don't look added-on. I also used heavy lace draperies on the top floor to "sell" the whole look. Sort of a chalet-style or Bavarian thing going on. My windows on the first floor are six over six mullioned windows, and surprisingly the two different styles of windows actually work now that I got the arch going on the top floor. You might want to do something like that. I noticed that the windows are of different sizes so too much of the arched business might look weird. I'd do it on the top floor only. And add on mullions on the lower level, so that the two floors aren't trying to mimic the same look. I think the white trim and the yellow is a big part of the problem, like has been mentioned. Can you also paint the white trim on the windows? Then painting those large surrounds around the windows also would help. I'm seeing a darker color to bridge the transition between the roof and brick elements and maybe a similar color on the windows themselves, or something like taupe surrounds and charcoal window frames. Or even a dark red on the windows and charcoal surrounds. Something like that. And then you can paint the big columns to fit with that scheme. Either garage door would look good to me, but I'd keep the brackets and paint the area above the door. I'm seeing Bungalow when I look at your house. With some Tudor. There's a great book by Jane Powell called "Bungalow Details: Exterior" that you would get lots of ideas from. There's another one out there with a similar name but it doesn't focus on the exteriors, so see if you can find the "Exteriors" one. It's a beautiful book full of great colors and details. There are similarities amongst Bungalow and Tudor elements that you can use between the two styles. I don't think you need major work, but rather very careful selection of paint colors and some window corner/brackets/mullions to change their shape. And the garage door will make a big difference too. I think it has so much potential without doing too much to the actual structure.

Well, the problem just started a couple of days ago but it definitely seems to be "reproducible at will." I've tried it at least half a dozen times today. It keeps recurring every single time. Once the problem starts, I have to let everything cool off for awhile before I start the shower back up again or it will go wonky immediately instead of behaving normally for the first couple of minutes. I tried turning the master shower on first and then turning the guest shower on and everything ran normally for several minutes... longer than usual, I think. But, as soon as I turned the master shower off, the guest shower immediately started acting up. As in, it started going wonky the EXACT SECOND that I turned the master shower off. After that, even if I tried turning the master shower back on, the guest shower continued to be wonky. I'm thinking I should probably try the experiment again, maybe wait quite a bit longer to cut the master shower off to make sure that the "exact second" start of the problem wasn't merely coincidental? I'll rerun the experiment in half an hour or so, as soon as the water in the lines has had time to cool off and will let you know what happens. I will also try the experiment the way you suggested. I.e., turn the guest shower on first and then turn the master shower on. Should I wait until the guest shower starts acting wonky to turn the master shower on to see if turning the master shower on seems to correct or at least minimize the problem? Or, should I turn the master shower on as quickly as I can manage to get from one room to the other to see if having the master shower on, keeps the guest shower from going wonky? Or, should I try both ways? There has not been any remodeling done. This is the original plumbing that was put in when our new house was built four years ago. So if there is an error in the way the plumbing was run, it is a mistake that was made by the plumbers hired by our builder. But, given some of the other problems we've run into with this house, I certainly would not try to argue that "contractor error" can't be involved. I'm afraid I have no idea where the shut-off valve for the shower would be located. There is no "access panel" for either shower. I do have open wall photos taken during the build so, if I knew what to look for, I might be able to figure out where the shut-off valve (assuming there is one) is located. Since there is no access panel, does that support the idea that the shut off valve for the vanity sink may also be serving as shut off for the shower?

Pink Mountain, lol about my house being a prime example of needing foundation plantings! It's what we've been saying for months. We've only been here a year, got a lot of inside work done and now want to start on front. Little by little as budget allows. I'll definitely use these ideas.