Where do you live, so we can determine your garden zone for plants and trees? I'm in southern coastal Maine, and my zone is 5.

I have linked some images of garden zone maps below.

Here is a link that might be useful: US garden zones

First, since you like sitting on the porch, I would do a couple berms out front by the street. Plant with bulbs, a few perennials suited to your zone and some shrubby, lacey trees--maybe Japanese maple, crepe myrtle, etc. Nothing that will get too tall.
Front door (and garage door) would look nice in the right yellow. It is a pretty house and the landscaping will make a huge difference.

my3dogs: Thanks, apparently I am in zone 6B. Central coastal NJ.

dretutz: Thank you for the compliment :) We've done a lot to it both inside and outside so that's nice to hear. By berms are you thinking something like this?

Or maybe something that is more naturalized like the below?

Or perhaps the below is the grown up version of the first pic? Perhaps you can tell that I am not so great at gardening..

DH has vetoed a bright yellow but perhaps a deeper golden yellow or ochre color would work? On the other hand he really wants a japanese maple so he will be happy to hear that was recommended.

A white-washed stain on your deck would give you a fresh, beachy look -- I don't know what the maintenance would be, though. If not that, then a medium walnut stain would look nice and earthy.

I'd love to see a railing -- something simple, but substantial -- on the porch. It would give your sitting area a feeling of shelter and a hint of privacy.

I'd first focus on the landscaping on the right in front of the more blank section of the house - that lonely shrub looks a bit haphazard. I would consider planting some shrubs along the foundation (camellias are nice, evergreen and pretty flowers) and a little border there. If planting in front of the porch I would use a low border.

For the porch I think a whitewash color would look great, or a pale grey.

For the front door, if you keep it white get a white storm door. Black with a black storm door would look nice too, or navy.

Yes both of those are berms. Basically a pile of soil to make a mount with plantings at the top and sides. It gives depth,but more importantly, it offer privacy without major investment in landscape plants. A Japanese Maple is perfect because it will provide low foliage and as years go by, it will grow but continue to be a privacy screen with great views from your porch. I planted one in front of my porch 16 years ago from a 1 gallon pot. It has given me pleasure every year since. It is now 20+ feet high with low folliage. A beauty

Dretutz, is that tree healthy? I can't make out the trunk very well. If not, its eventual demise/removal should be designed around.

Thinking in big terms, the typical open front yard is regarded, and experienced as semipublic space. So is the typical front porch; privacy normally only beginning in the house. To create privacy and a feeling of comfort for the porch, my suggestion would be not just to interrupt the view to it but specifically to redefine the middle portion of the front yard as semiprivate space.

Plantings of tree(s) and shrubs (pretty fencing?) toward the front of the lot and curving in along the driveway and other side boundary, taking the form of the suggested berms or not, will do that. The planted tree/shrub beds visible from the street would then be the property's semipublic area and the inside of these plantings and lawn semiprivate. The planting beds themselves don't have to be solid all the way across to perform their function and carefully positioned make a property more lovely to passersby, inviting their attention by framing the best views in and creating a little gentle mystery from other views so that people are intrigued. Gaining more privacy by becoming one of those houses people always look at as they drive by. :)

Also, those on the porch will feel farther from the street, and vice versa, as the porch will no longer be semipublic space but private in the background to the middle and foregrounds between it and the street.

If, in addition to any trees by the street, a small tree casts some light dappled shade in front of it (perhaps by the driveway in front of the path to the door?) sitting there will be almost as private as the back yard. The plantings, of course, create a view across the lawn from the porch that has little to do with the house opposite, and the inside edge is perfect for bulbs and other ephemerals. Berms can have the nice effect of making lawn they enclose feel like a little "pool."

BTW, it might be nice to cast some dappled shade on the driveway/garage door with a similar tree to the left to help them settle into the background too.

Thanks for the fun. Back to much more boring work.