First thing is prune the shrubs some are hanging over the sidewalk, prune back and much lower also prune across front of house, then black shutters would look great!

Thanks, susieq07, you're right about that! We're waiting for a friend to have time to come tear out the stuff you're seeing...except for the big ol' spruce tree. Then, we'll pour some concrete and start plantings later. Any suggestions as to what would look nice?

I would not put shutters on your house.

The reason being that you don't have enough room to put well proportioned shutters on both sides of each window. Putting a shutter on one side seems strange to me. Having shutters on every other window doesn't seem like a great idea either.

Also, I think shutter belong on older homes, where they would have been used for real. Just my personal preference, you understand.

I think that changing out the flowery wrought irn columns for something square and chunkier would look good. What about brick bases and a square column on top of that?

Here's a quick mock-up....

{{!gwi}}

Homemaker, we've discussed just what you're saying. I don't think we'll go with shutters. Some other reasons are that we don't want to drill into the brick, don't want to mess with painting wooden ones, don't want to mess with replacing faded or broken plastic ones. We want a low maintenance house...LOL!

Miles, thanks so much for the mock-up. I like the white columns and the trimmed low Honeysuckle and the scraggly bushes gone. I also like the look of the shutters, but I don't think we'll use them afterall for the above mentioned reasons. I think we'd have to move the mailbox and the address plaque to get shutters on that big window which would mean more drilling into brick :-(

Now, for the next part of our thoughts. Do any of you think it would look nice to pour concrete to the right of the porch the length of the house, to meet with the driveway, and make a small patio where the red pavers are, then have white square fence posts with wrought iron railing going from the porch and along the concrete? And should the wrought iron be black or white?

Our house is awkward to get into and people like to park on the side street. It would be really nice to have a concrete sidewalk for them to get to the front door.

Thanks again for the ideas and suggestions.

Love your black roof. I've been wanting a black one when we reroof, so it's nice to see it on a house similar to mine.

Rip out all those shrubs. They're very dated and don't flatter your home. I'd like to see the wrought iron painted black, and paint your window trim black too.

Since you're pouring concrete, I'd frame up an additional porch area to the right of the door. Make it a bit larger, even though it'll extend out beyond the roof, it'll give you a nice place to put some pots or even a little bench under that window.

In the area between the two windows, I'd put up a tall, vertical plant and some underplantings. Round out that bed, since you have so many right angles. Rounding it would tie into the curved pathway.

Add some malibu or solar lights along the path, and I'd widen the path with plantings, so move the grass back about 18 inches from the path. Also, widen it at the front steps. A wider path and entry is so much more welcoming. You won't feel so squished, especially if you pull out that juniper on the left. Wait...or is that the spruce you're talking about? If that's the spruce, you definitely need to move the path over to the right more (right as you're facing the house, I mean).

Really good suggestions, Pesky1. Glad you like our black roof and hope you get yours soon. We had to wait for a hail storm..ha! Ours are by Heritage in Rustic Black. Guys are here today replacing some guttering. Soon we'll start on pulling out the dated shrubs, pouring concrete, etc. Can't wait...it's exciting to finally be improving the front of the house!!

Yes, it's the big ol' spruce tree that's crowding the curved path. We've talked about cutting off lower brances, but I'm not sure I'd like that look. The tree is actually a better view out the front window than what's across the street plus it provides some privacy from the street and shades the window from the west. I'll talk up widening the sidewalk to DH and see what happens...hee, hee, hee!

I'll be gone for a few days so will check in again later. Thanks to all who chimed in to help this usual lurker out ;-)