This view helps a lot. Paint the arches and doors dark brown and spend the bulk of your budget on a curved bed with new plantings. Start about halfway up the driveway, curve over and sweep around the porch and continue on around the corner of the house. Put a taller specimen in the area where the brick begins. Not sure if there is room, but consider some plantings along the left side of the drive, rounding that corner off too. I think simple landscaping would nicely frame your pretty house.

It it were my home, I would save until I could afford to do away with the arches. I don't think new front doors will have much of an impact until the arches are gone, but that would be my second priority. Then landscaping.

I like your home. The arches give it character.

That being said, maybe you'll like this...take down the arches. Leave the roof and posts. Next, install a front porch knee wall railing. Leave the space open in front of the entry doors.

Now you have a rectangle frame for a new door as you are dreaming. You will have interest and dimension. You will still have a sitting porch area. Without the arches the porch may not seem top heavy.

You mentioned on your other post about the doors not really being true double doors. Not sure how this would work from the inside, but what about a entry doors with some glass in them? They make glass in different levels of opaqueness so people will not be able to tell that behind one of them it is not the entry. Those glass doors would take center stage and look lovely either in wood or painted a color.

If new garage doors are in fine shape, think about adding some moulding or decorative hardware. I read diy can create a wood look garage door.

Then what about painting/staining your concrete ?

Finally a few bushes, flowers and hanging baskets. Prairemom's sweeping beds idea, yes. You could carry that a step farther (ha) making a sweeping walkway to the front door.

WOW in curb appeal.

Paint the garage doors and center body of the house in a similar tone and color to the brick. Beef up the bottoms of the archway "poles" and landscape. Really cute house!!!

Some of the things I would consider....

There is a mish-mash of styles...the diamond lites in the windows, the big rectangles on the front door, the arches.... I would do what I could to fix that.

Then you have the very prominent garage door on one side, and the window on the opposite side is painted in in brown to almost match the brick so it disappears rather than balancing it.

The porch is also blocking a lot of light to those front windows....do you live in an area of the country where that's a good thing? If so, then you'd want to leave the porch, but change how it is supported to eliminate the arches, maybe beef up the posts.

If you wanted more light on the interior and welcome the heat of the sun (as I do in the NE) and If you wanted to put more $$ into it, you could shrink the porch to make just an entry porch and then have your landscape start sooner....if I was messing with the entire porch, I would consider changing the roof line and the flooring material...maybe a soft peak on the porch and blue stone for the flooring....

For color, the paint looks very yellow to me which is not my favorite with the brick....I think I would look for a soft gray or a taupe or a pale sage green to paint the siding and trim in, paint the garage door dark but paint the trim around it in the color, and then pick an accent color for the front door, like a deep blue or a rusty red and paint it solid, not with the lines around it.

I still think you need to ditch the front doors. I left this door and side lites blank so you can fill in your own color.

Is your style of house - with the arches, posts, and diamond design of the windows - common in your neighborhood? If so, making changes to it may make the house look out of character to the neighborhood, and I would go easy on the changes.

Graywings, actually many of the houses have taken the faux door out and removed the arches. We are 1 of 2 left with the original arches. Those who have replaced the door with 1 single door it just aesthetically does not look right.

Loving the feedback!

I agree about doors with some glass, a garage door in a similar color as the brick, creamy trim and maybe wood columns to match the door and a painted railing...

Realized I posted the version without garage trim painted to match the other trim...

I really like those doors gmp3 posted. When playing around with colored doors I couldn't find a shade that looked nice. The warm wood really looks good.

Gmp3, I like your first one better because it looks more balanced without the light trim around the garage.

Am I remembering incorrectly? I thought only one door is functional and the other is trim applied to the (solid) siding to mimic a second door, in which case sidelights would not be an option. But maybe I'm remembering the wrong post.

Perhaps train climbing roses to cover the pillars and arches?

I would paint the arches, posts and garage door all a darker brown or taupe color to minimize the contrast and unify the look, and then paint the doors a solid color--a slate blue or sage green or even a pumpkin color.

I like the diamond pane windows and the doors. Some of the cutest houses in my neighborhood are also a "mishmash" of styles and it doesn't stop them from being cute.

If it were my house I would plant more shrubs along the front and would have a bed of plantings running along the front of the porch, as well. Like in the mockup someone posted, though not necessarily all the way to the sidewalk, at least along the porch.

What a fun house to start with!

lazydaisynot you are remembering correctly. However, we are considering knocking out the wall and putting the door in with frosted glass and then building the closet wall back behind it. The closet is only for coats so losing a few inches won't be detrimental.

Can you tell we have been seriously considering all these options :)

They are helping us think out of the box a ton!!

What if you did something like this? Then one door could work.

Would you say we could change the siding in the front to the darker brown and leave the rest of the house creme or is that risky?

vclinton, this is what I visualized and tried to describe, along with others great ideas, you now have a transformation picture. I love it! The question is ... do you love it? Let us know. We'll be looking forward to your unveiling :)