What about a flowering vine to go up the chimney or a trellis? Maybe a real wood front door with interesting cut outs. Hanging baskets flanking the door would help too :)

double post sorry

This post was edited by scrappykat on Wed, Aug 27, 14 at 17:52

Scrappy- I was just thinking 'climbing rose'! LOL

If it's not too hot, it would be great to see something on the chimney. Also, I would add a patio in front of that little chimney garden area.

Maybe garden area even with front of porch and over to the other side of the chimney area. Then, have a patio (with small seating area) between sidewalk and shrub area. Maybe 8' to 10' deep? I'd have it a little wider than deep.

This would make the walkway more inviting (you can sit and greet people) and if it's really sunny, maybe an umbrella over the table?

Little seating areas are charming and even if you don't use them that often...they are wonderful in the morning and evening. Sometimes it's nice to have a seat, while waiting for people or just having a quieter place than the backyard. Just a few ideas :)

What Lavender Lass suggested 2x on the little patio. You could add a low "hedge" to make it slightly more private. But that hedge could be a flowering plant that you love. Or if that is a hot zone (no idea where you are located), a well placed smaller tree on the right side (hard to decide with out a larger photo) might cool your entry and break up some of the brick colors.

I love roses on fireplaces, but also know if you are in an area with a lot of varmints that can give them attic/roof access. And you would want to make sure that watering plants in that corner would not cause any moisture issues in the home. If it did, a nice large pot of something you enjoy (color wise) would look good too.

To me, the small roof over the entry looks like an afterthought, and support column is not a thing of beauty. What is your climate? Could you live without the little roof? If it was gone, both the door and chimney become focal points.

Then I'd plant something on the right side, and something else to climb up the chimney (clematis?), with a small porch in front of the chimney.

Your soil looks pretty sandy - you might want to bring in some black dirt before planting anything permanent.

So many good suggestions! Unfortunately we live in West Texas, so not the greatest climate for living things outside of desert plants. I probably won't be doing any climbing plants just based on our severe water restrictions and and my lack of a green thumb. Plus we have some heavy dust storms most of the year that sand blasts anything too delicate. I tend to let the lawn do it's thing and keep it cut and edged.

Lavender_Lass: I absolutely love the idea of a little seating area out there! I would go with a concrete bench and small table (things tend to walk away here). I hadn't ever thought of this.. but sometimes I do loiter out front waiting for guests to arrive for dinner parties.

Kippy: Possibly a small flowering tree to cover some of the area from heat? It gets extremely hot there in the middle of the day.

annkh: my handy man skills probably lack too much to remove my covered area, but I'm thinking I could replace that column with something not so... terrible. I absolutely hate that thing! Do you have any thoughts on what I can do to keep it and pretty it up some? We do get some pretty heavy storms sometimes.

Any suggestions on paint color ideas for that siding? I have a feeling that's really going to help out alot, but I'm not sure what colors to go with to modernize it all (gonna paint before I plant/landscape). I've attached a full photo of the house, plus a photo of inside so you can all see that I have at least done some nice remodeling in there at least.

And we had a nice hail storm yesterday evening so I am getting a new roof!! No more brown orange roof! woohoo!!

Before you paint, it might be wise to pull out all the overgrown shrubs surrounding the house...start with a clean slate visually. I am not a fan of shrubs around a home since they become woody and overgrown quickly which tends to visually overload and date a home. They also attract critters and bugs.

The patio area with a rock garden and plantings of drought tolerant perennials mixed with annuals under the window area would look nice. An even less maintenance idea...We pulled out all our shrubs years ago and now use groupings of potted plants/containers in our rock garden...easy cleanup and easy renewal.

Change post:

Stone base could be changed to painted siding. https://www.houzz.com/photos/cedar-and-stone-entry-traditional-entry-nashville-phvw-vp~2682375-and-Stone-Entry-traditional-entry-nashville

If there is sufficent space, can you make an entry court yard by connecting both side of sidings with low fence and gate?

Use concrete or paver stones to cover the entire court yard floor. Add seatings, container plants and xeriscape with drought tolerant plants.

The roof and post do have room for improvement. I dislike thin posts. We used had toothpick thin posts on our backyard patio. Replaced them with wide stucco Columns greatly improved the look.