It's hard to tell from yr picture where the hall bath ends. If it ends behind the toilet, with a nook on the other side, then I think if you just take out the stub of a wall and place a nice sideboard there instead, the hallway will shorten by a few feet. That would also be handy for coming and going in the garage, a place for keys, outgoing mail, etc. and provide a focal point for the eye, instead of the hallway. Unless you make major interior changes, that hallway will still be there. Solatubes, even just one in the middle of the hall, can make it feel much more open. An attractive runner on the floor gives it a sense of a room. Eta: you could also put a small solatube in the windowless hall bath. This post was edited by bpathome on Sat, Oct 4, 14 at 13:14

Mahogany is used as it is a great exterior wood as it is used in boat building. Can it be painted? Of course it can but covering such a decorative premium wood is not advised by anyone who likes real wood. You can paint it and have the look you want and also have the strength and decay resistance of the wood. A shame but its your door and you will still have to repaint every other year anyway so the maintenance will be the same. I would never paint paint it as it is such a shame to cover that beautiful wood grain. Look into Waterlox it is great exterior coating. ANY exterior paint, coating, clear, etc will require maintenance end of story. DO NOT slap on a HD polyurethane as it will flake and cause all sorts of issues on a front door. Mahogany will change color in the sun. Staining with another wood color again makes zero sense. If you wanted a chestnut or hickory you should have just had the door built out of that wood. I can never understand people buying one type of wood and then saying they want it stained the color of another but this question is asked daily. Look into UV dyes. the dyes can tint the overall color of the wood but allow its natural look show through. I would us the Waterlox and see how you like it. You can always paint over it but if you paint there is no going back. You are trying to make a $1000 door into a cheap $200 door. With that overhand you should be fine. Plus one of the biggest killers is storm doors that bake the the door as they don't allow air flow to cool the door.

Not sure where you are located, but I used this vendor Therma Tru and am very happy. They have an app that can visualize a door on your own photo. They have a line called Pulse, that is modern

Regarding the shutters - it's not the color of the shutters - it's that the windows are too wide. Shutters are supposed to look functional even if they aren't functional. They are supposed to look like they can cover the window on which they are placed. They never go on bay windows or triple windows unless they are Bahama type shutters which would be inappropriate for your area and inappropriate for your house. Please read this short article on shutters: https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/residential-architecture-101-shutters/ As to the front door, that oval window is what makes it a Victorian style door. Your house isn't Victorian and would look so much better with an MCM type door or a solid door. The reason others are suggesting a light color for your door is that a brown door creates the "black hole" effect on the face of your house. It's hard to visualize if you are accustomed to seeing the brown, brown, brown that you currently show. There are other neutral, but lighter paints so your front door becomes visible. I agree that the landscaping you have now buries the house and doesn't bring out it's features. I hope you end up with a good landscape plan. Reach out to the landscape forum here too. They can provide suggestions, for free, to enhance your landscaping.