You could go green with your trim and even paint the top of your porch a beautiful hazy blue/green or even your porch for that matter...here's an idea...

Do you have room to add a door with sidelights and a transom? If so, I think that is a great idea. Right now your windows, being so tall and with the shutters, overpower the size of the door.

I would do a wooden door, to help make your stained shingles up above feel connected. I would love the glass to be more rectangular to compliment the windows - the oval feels too victorian to me.

One other thought - your porch is wonderful, I am SOOOOO jealous. It would be my dream porch. But I think having those plants hanging directly in front of the two windows spoils the architectural lines of the front of the house. If you want to add some greenery up there, I would love to see boxes on the railings instead. It would open up the view of the windows and the depth of the porch. Right now the plants stop your eye at the railing. You would still have greenery, etc. with the boxes, plus they could be fun to decorate for the holidays and seasons.

It looks like you have a classic Four Square home. Sidelights (but not a transom over the door) would be appropriate if there is room for them on the inside; does the front door open into a foyer/hallway, or dircetly into the living room? Although they aren't period specific, Les is right, boxes on the railings would look better than the ferns hanging in front of the windows - less imposing. Will you be adding railings on one or both sides of the steps?

Aside from that, I would have had those shutters off yesterday; they're the wrong size and they aren't installed correctly.

Here is a link that might be useful: Correct installation of historic shutters

Thanks for the help and opinions!

Tara, I like that green and yellow combo, they look great together.

Les, I agree that if the shakes get left natural than a wood door to tie them in is probably a good idea. I spent most of the day going to salvage places and didn't come up with anything remotely possible that would work. Lots of stuff that could be painted, but nothing that would strip nicely. I would like an old door though, one that reflects the age of the house. I'm thinking about painting the shakes at this point and doing a painted door .. I'm getting kind of tired, sort of frusterated and just want to wrap this project up .. not a good time to make choices, huh ? *LOL*

Littledog, thanks for the shutter info. The house is a 1 1/2 story and it rambles in the back on both sides, so I don't think it would be considered a classic foursquare .. it's kind of a 'mutt' I think. :)

I agree with Les about the plants-adding window boxes on the porch railing would be great. Also, for the ferns (I love Boston ferns)-you could put them in large black urns on either side of your door. They would tie in nicely with the lantern. Also, I think an address plaque on one side of the door is always a nice touch.

I think it is a cute looking house but the door and windows are very much out of proportion. The windows are to tall for the door. Normally the top of a window is equal to the top of a door. Were the window openings enlarged? Hanging shutters on the molding is not very common but the shutters are to tall for the windows. Shutter height should be equal to the height of the glass part of the window.

I think it would be great if you could get an antique wood door that you can paint. I like the door painted the same color as the shutters. But I would either resize the door to line up with the windows or resize the windows. The door also looks narrow. A brick sidewalk would be very nice. I would remove the hanging plants and plant on the porch.

Thanks for the help and input!

Les, Shellfish and Littledogs we actually have boxes that mount of the front rails. They were removed so we could work on the front, I'll put a pic of them below. Thanks for the suggestions about the ferns.

Premier, thanks for the suggestions and help! The window openings were not enlarged. I went back and looked at old pictures of when we bought the house. The original door was about 6 inches taller than the present door. So it was taller, but never in line with the windows, which was probably a design flaw when the home was built. Sadly the old door had been messed up by the previous owner and can't be reused on this house. We have it in the cottage out back and we are going to try and recycle it to use out there.

I very quickly found a door with sidelight and a transom and used paint to paste it on to the house. Would something along these lines ( not this door, probably something older and plainer ) even out the proportion ? Or would it be too over blown for the house?

Here's the flower boxes off the rails in the summer :

That flower box pic will probably confuse people since the front posts have been changed this time around. We originally had long columns on the front porch, when we moved in they were very rotted at the bottoms and there were a lot to replace. We rebuilt the porch quickly and cut the columns down to save them and built boxes. This time around we replaced all the columns to reflect what was originally on the porch when it was built.

That is one beautiful house.
I like the idea of green with white and yellow mentioned above. And, I think the door you just pasted on works well. (obviously, not paste but hinges etc.) How pretty!

I think I would leave off the transom, and instead put a wide header with moulding detail on it. I think it would act as a better balance for the heavy trim on the windows.

I am also wondering about adding shutters on either side of the front door, rather than sidelights?

Sheilaaus122 .. thank you!

Les, maybe something more along this line, but with a bigger header? ( see link below ) I really like the idea of side lights just to bring more light into the front hall. Our house faces south, but the maples and the porch block a lot of light.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I think that last one is fine, tho personally I would rather see the sidelights and trim in the wood as well. If the door were being painted, then having the sidelights, etc in the trim (white) color works for me, but for some reason not with the wood door. But yes, with a larger header that would be fine.

Zipdee -- I didn't realize that you are here in NC. If you're in Raleigh, drive around Oakwood, Fallon Park (Five Points) or Cameron Park to see what is used on that style home. Your home is so lovely!

Great to get the rain at last! :-)

Cameron (in Chapel Hill)

Old doors - stained to match the cedar shingles.
Like these - I like the leaded glass. Simple and stately.
{{!gwi}}

You could then trim it out to coordinate with the window trim in white.

What a pretty house!
Smiles:)

zipdee The first door you photoshopped in looks great on the house. The transom really takes care of the height issue and molding alone won't take care of it as well as the transom. The sidelights look great and give the door the extra width it needed. In your search for a door, I wouldn't go to old looking as your house has been updated. The windows are obviously new. I would keep the balance between the style and perceived age of the windows and the door. The first one you posted looks better than the second one. The panel design on the second door reminds me of a back door. And the sidelights on the second one are real small. Most original front doors and sidelights had tall sidelights like the first one. If you plan to use the flower boxes I would use them on the rails made to be removeable. Your idea for the front door would be perfect.

Just wondering how it would look without shutters and just have a pretty front door.

Thanks so much everyone for the insight that was given on this post, I really appreciate you all taking the time to help me out! It's great to 'see' this thing through fresh eyes. All of the posts have been really helpful pointing out the issues with the house, door, shutters, plants, etc. I'm going to sit down with my DH tonight and talk to him about how we want to proceed from here to correct the problems. The roof will probably take two more steady weekends of work, so I have a little play time to make a decision and look further for a door replacement. I think that I'll remove the shutters this weekend too and look for door before I make any type of decision new ones.

Johnatemp, that door is just beautiful!

Cameron, Isn't the rain wonderful? :) Of course we had to laugh since it hasn't rained here in three month, but we strip the roof and here comes the monsoons! *LOL* I hope it's helping with the water level in the reservoirs. I know that our plants and lawn have certainly perked up, the lawn was all but dead and I was starting to wonder if we'd lose our weeping willow. We live West of you, a little South of Winston Salem. The last past two days here have been a good steady rain, I hope you all in Chapel Hill are getting a good soaking too!! :)