The house looks great!

This is just "my" observation as a passer-by.
How do you get to the front door ????
Do you have a front porch out there?
I'm assuming there is a sidewalk
leading up to your front door.
Me --- I would take out the plants that are on the outskirts
of the sidewalk and in front of the porch,
make that all clean/grass.
Put in nice path lights.
And maybe enlarge (double the depth) of the flower bed
that's to the right on the picture.
Add a small ornamental tree.

Honostly, you have done a great job with your home.
Now how about taking a look at my place
and telling me what to do!...........cheryl

It's hard to see your front landing. It looks like maybe there is a potted plant? Maybe trim the bushes directly in front of the landing. How about a plant stand with some kind of gorgous colorful annual plant? Big bushy and lots of color. Place it back and to the right of the door. Get a plant stand that is tall enough to be seen from the street but not blocking the light.

Then depending on what you have for space, maybe another one on the corner between the house and garage. Just not as tall as the one on the landing. You want the top of the plant to be lower than the window, but on the corner not under the window.

Then take your pot that you have on the corner to the left of your door and do some more colorful flowers, but leave it on the ground.

Buy your flowers in accordance to the light available. Note that some, such as fushia's are messy, and you probably don't want those in the door. Talk to your garden store if unsure. Do keep your colors in harmony for all the pots. Meaning don't mix the orange with the purples.

At night you could put low voltage lights. Just don't line them up like soldiers across the front of the house and get some up-lights. There really not hard to install. The biggy is not to exceed your wattage for your transformer. The solar lights just don't have enough power.

Nadd2, we are missing some info to help you. What colors are currently in the garden, what colors would you like to use, do you want to get rid of certain plants, have you seen anything you would like to add? What zone are you in? What kind of light are we working with? What do you want to address first? Do you like order or the disorderly fullness of a cottage garden? It's amazing the number of questions there are for small changes!

Everyone has their preferences as to how a front garden should look, so you will get different answers from everyone as they design what THEY would want to have.

For instance, I would leave the sweeping garden in, it's very cottage-y and fits the style of your house (which I think is fantastic!).
I think that the tall plants in front of the sidewalk/door area are causing the problem of defining your walk-way. I would move those elsewhere and get something low-growing but with color. Hostas, creeping jenny, or japanese painted ferns would be nice if you have enough shade for them. If it's sunny, blooming annuals will do well there and not get over-grown.
I think color is what the garden is needing, but it's pretty shady in the pic so I can't see what you have. Are those impatiens in front of the door/sidewalk? I see daylilies in front. What else is there?

Whatever is growing in the bed right in front of stoop/door should be cut back, it appears out of control and hides the door..

nadd2,

Not sure if this is feasible for you or not, depending on the type of siding you have, but the white gables on the roof seem to visually stick out. I'm wondering if you can paint them a khaki/tan to blend in with your stone. The white trim pops against the stone and would do the same on your dormers. But maybe painting is more than you want to do.

Otherwise, I think the home looks nice. You chose a good color for the roof that goes well with the other elements of your home. Taking down the canopies updated to a more cottage character.

I'm not much of a gardener, but a short white picket fence around your plantings would bring in the white from the house and add some charm. Or perhaps a white garden bench. It seems like you need some more contrast in your plantings. Maybe some pots of annuals set amongst the plantings with some white flowers and other bright colors?

It just needs a little 'tweaking' to get to where you want to be.

Jill

The house looks great, you did an awesome job with all the colors. I do think something is missing. I would suggest shutter for the 2 lower picture windows, but the one side might look odd near the front door. I think new awnings might fill the void. I agree with the comments others made about the shurbs. I would replace the "untidy" shrubs with either english boxwoods or annual flowers.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I am also worried about the white dormers, but since we just put in new white trimmed windows, any color changes will have to wait.

I can see that I didn't provide enough information--I'm in zone 4/5 and since I took the photo kind of close up, did not show the whole front yard which has several flower beds. I do a lot of gardening and will look more closely at how the beds need to be tweaked.

I do appreciate all the suggestions to trim back the awful barberry shrubs in front of the landing. I've already done so and as soon as I can put on some thorn-proof clothing, I will do a lot more. Then the planters on the landing will be more visible. If the barberries don't start looking better, out they go!

Yous extra sets up eyes are so helpful--any other suggestions welcome, too!