Okay, let's see if I can catch up on all of your helpful posts! I met with a landscaper and we were pretty much on the same page but there were a few things that I didn�t agree with. Maybe I just have no clue what I'm doing and maybe his recommendations are truly better than the picture I have in my head! I'll be meeting with another designer on Monday to get his take on it. The first guy was free and we just talked about what the plan would be. The second guy charges $50, but will draw up a whole design. They also do driveways, which the first company does not do. The one thing that I really didn't like about the first guy was that I felt like I had seen all of his ideas in my neighborhood already. I don't want something crazy that doesn't fit the house or neighborhood, but I also don't want the same thing everyone else has. How do you get your house to stand out from the others but still "fit"? Just because everyone else has "x" number of garden beds and "x" amount of front yard grass doesn't mean I have to, right? I did read over our HOA docs and they simply state that no more than 20% of the yard can be raised garden beds or container gardens. I would really like to make maintaining the lawn easier and to shade the front a little more. He wasn't on board with that. As I said before our yard is quite short, only 25 ft deep from the sidewalk to the front brick. So that will definitely play a big part in the design. The front tree is a cherry tree (with fruit) and I have been told that it will grow large enough to provide cover for the front window, not too sure about the door. Every arborist and landscaper that I have talked to seem happy with that tree and tell me not to touch it. The shutters have actually done quite well with all of the sun and heat that they get exposed too. No warping or anything. Considering the roof color is a good point. I think the wrought iron color would look great. I still don�t know what I want to do with the door. I have been playing with pictures of the house for days now. I've cut and pasted so many different designs I'm stuck. I think that there are some styles and looks that definitely work, some that definitely don't work, and then there are the in-between ones. I don't mind having my house look a little different then the neighborhood. I have two tri-levels on each side of me and three true 2 story colonials across the street from me. From my mock-ups I think can get away with some different looks that neither of the other two styles could pull off. And that is why I'm stuck. Too many ideas. I think a designers eye is what I need. The other challenge I am having right now is prioritizing what to do with the house first. The inside still needs to be painted. I could use some new furniture too. If I did do painting I would want to update the lighting while the ceilings are getting a fresh coat. As far as the outside goes, we obviously need landscaping. But we could also use new gutters and soffits, possibly a new door, and new hardscaping. My husband would also like to close in the carport. There is just so much to do and I don't know where to start. The changes we have already made to the inside were easy because they were done out of necessity. Really none of these other things have to be done. I think that I would like to focus on the outside simply because I have a 4yr old and 1yr old that make it a little harder to maintain the inside versus the outside. And I can handle the inside myself. I obviously need professional help with the exterior. So, any ideas on how to prioritize my projects?

I like the walnut for the garage doors and cream for the trim and dark navy for your siding. Navy and cream is elegant and sophisticated IMO. I wouldn't have your front door match your garage doors. I would have it either the same cream as your trim color OR another accent color like goldish/yellow door. Posting the door below for color only. Your front door would be surrounded by navy siding so it would show up and not dissappear like this one above. Also, I wouldn't emphasize the gable ends with the same walnut color as it would make your exterior look too much like eyes and not in a good way. I don't photoshop but someone can show you what that looks like and I think you will see it won't enhance your home the way you imagine it now with the walnut colored gable ends.

We are now ready for landscape design help. We have removed all of the shrubbery on the left side of the house. And all of the pavers have been moved to the backyard for future use. ( unless someone has an idea of how they could be used up front. Although I understand that a curved sidewalk would be an improvement over what we have, there is no budget for that right now. The plan is to resod in the spring. This is north facing, so very shady. I have so many design dilemmas! To the right of the front porch: If you look at the second and third pictures in my original post, you’ll see that the area to the right of the sidewalk is huge. I purchased a green Japanese maple ( smallish weeping Viridis) to put in there somewhere. Should I leave room for more grass on the right side of the side walk or just plant the whole thing? Also on the right side of the porch, there is only about 39” between the ground and the bottom of the windows. Need suggestions for what to plant there that wouldn’t need constant pruning ( don’t like gardenias because the brown flowers stay on the plant). If I plant low shrubs under the windows does everything else planted in there need to be as lower lower or can I punctuate with some taller shrubs as I get further out. Any suggestions for a mix of shrubs, or even forms, would be appreciated. To the left of the porch. If you refer to the first picture in this string, You’ll see that a very large bed of shrubbery was in front of the house. Once we cleared that out, there is now an extremely have extremely large area (about 28 feet from left to right and 36 feet from front to back.) . Because the house is small, I’m thinking of that bed somewhat narrower so that it isn’t so much in front of the house, but more to the side.I already purchased a Japanese stewartia to plant there ( sale at the nursery).Etsy sale I purchased 234 limelight hydrangeas. Also, to the left of the porch, there about 5 ft between the bottom of the window and the ground. Looking for suggestions on what to plant there. If I plant something different here than on the right side, would I want to somehow use some of the plants from the right side on this side as well to create balance? Any ideas for plantings in this area would be appreciated as well. I I did see some soft touch mahonia that I loved and wondered whether they would look good under the windows on the left, with maybe whatever we plant on the right side in front of those. Additionally, I would really appreciate suggestions for what to plant in that left corner. Thanks for your ideas!

Great house! Try painting the shutters the same color as the rest of the trim, but remove the shutters from the upper window - they don't fit. Then try medium to dark wood color or shiny dark green for the door, with a big brass knocker. The tree to the right of the door just needs to be thinned so you can see a little more of the house. I'm not sure about Cousin Itt, it's probably best to ask your tree service about what can be done with it; it would be expensive to remove. Good luck, I hope you succeed with your offer.