Lisa, it looks fabulous!!! You have such a beautiful house and front yard. I love how everything looks. Good job!!!

Very nice! It looks very elegant. I don't think I'd do window boxes. I think your house is more formal and has nice decorative elements. Window boxes might be a little too much. I think the paint oxidation will wear off, and it's not very noticeable now. Your porch is already very nice-- thicker columns will look nice too. The stone would be used for the porch floor/steps? That would look great.

Thanks Linelle:) Our front yard not much more than a patch, but easy to maintain! The ' hood' does have a clean look to it with garages in back laneways.

Thanks jlc as well:) I wondered if boxes would be too fussy. Plus, there's the issue of keeping things watered/alive up there...

Stone would cover the front porch and steps leading up to it. (A neighbour a few doors down did this...will try to get a pic )

Not sure what to do about the railings either ...they're not great looking up close.

Love the progress. The house looks great. You know my suggestion,............make that concrete entry more formal with a patterned black and white/grey tile to set off that great front door.

Thanks Beverly:)

I did show my husband the patterned walkway. While its looks nice and a great suggestion, am thinking of something a little more subtle.

I'll try to take a pic of neighbours stoned porch later!

wow. Wow, wow, wow. It looks just wonderful! Looks like it belongs in Georgetown or Beacon Hill now, sophisticated, elegant, steeped in history…

Your plantings - the impatiens and, are those peonies? - are perfect and beautiful as well. Not sure about the hedges at the bottom of the steps. Wonder if there is something better suited?

I don't think I'd put window boxes in the upper windows, although I wouldn't not either. They'd be beautiful. But I would definitely put two more on the bottom window.

Btw, I think I'd also paint the trim and siding on the dormer windows black.

Lovely! And I think window boxes on all three upper windows would be charming, they're easy enough to remove to another spot if you think it's too much, so why not try it?

I have no suggestions, but just had to add my own "wow!" to the chorus. What big impact!

WOW! I can't believe what a difference that made. It looks wonderful! Love the black shutters. I think window boxes would look nice on those two windows that are showing. I'm not sure if I'd put one near the railing. Hopefully someone else can chime in with more suggestions!

Your home is gorgeous!!

Thanks so much everyone for your kind comments:)

A work in progress these days and we decided to either stay and make some improvements or move on. Staying won out! ( quiet ' hood, great neighbours and far less $ than to move with the price of skyrocketing real estate)

The past few months have been the not so fun things to do...roof, furnace and windows. Focusing on indoors now.

Tibbrix- we'd thought about the 3rd floor corners the day after the painter left! We might call him back and gave him do the dormers. We'd also debated on painting the moulding beside the front door black or not. I left it as off white for now as I can paint it myself anytime if we decide to do them black.

My mom suggested (3) window boxes on all sides of the bay window as well:)

I definitely want to do something about those bushes that flank the steps. I don't care for them....Might just do more boxwood. Will deal with the porch, then the bushes:)

Black stone or pavers in a herringbone pattern?

Love the herringbone Beverly!! Had not thought of that!

Mmmm... A contender for sure:) Thank you!

Lisa you can get 1" pavers in black that installers will adhere directly to your existing stairs and platform. Not too expensive and can take bad weather and salt if you are in a climate where you get snow.

Thanks Beverly! Will look into them...

We are definitely in a snow and salt climate so good to know:)

Looking very nice.

The dark pavers could get very hot in the sun. If anyone might walk on them with bare feet or little paws, you might want to consider that.

I would not do window boxes. I'd be afraid it could detract from all the wonderful things you already have going on. And maintaining them is a consideration too. I put some up on a garden wall and during the ehat of summer would have to water them twice a day. We didn't plant them again this year -- they are coming down. So I might be biased. ;)

These shrubs are ruining your grand entrance. They make the landing look smaller and they are encroaching on the path to reach the door. You mentioned replacing them with Boxwood, I think nothing shrub size should be there. I tried to photshop them out of the picture but I lack the skill:( I would replace with some low perennial that does well in your area. It would also help if you removed the lower branches on your trees. There is a landscaping forum on the Garden side GW. You could get advice there. You have a beautiful house.

Love it. Now enjoy!

Thanks everyone!

I do agree that something needs to be done with those shrubs...like getting rid of them:)

The tree you see on the right is on a neighbours property. We're jammed in tightly! He doesn't do much to his property ( sadly, his wife passed suddenly a couple of years ago) but doesn't mind when we ask if we can clip branches that do bang up against our porch.

DH has nixed flower boxes for the 2nd floor windows. Will be a pain to water from below and we don't want to be popping out screens on a regular basis so we can water from the inside. ( although or painter did suggest good fakes:)) I think we might try 3 to surround the bay window.

When the stone works gets done, we plan to widen the steps to be the same width as the porch.

Many thanks again for the nice comments and great suggestions:)

It is more than likely that you can legally do what you want with any branches from his tree that enter your property area. In fact, you are probably legally responsible for them, for example, hiring an arborist to cut, prune, trim.

It doesn't matter who "owns" the tree or on whose property the trunk is. It's over whose property the specific branch(es) is/are.

Thanks tibbrix...didn't really know that!

Of course, best if neighbors can get along on these things. Like, trim to keep the whole tree healthy. If a whole tree needs to be pruned, split the cost, etc.

The tree directly in front of your house hides the beautiful entry. Can it be removed?

The tree in front is on the boulevard, which is usually city property. So no, it wouldn't be allowed to remove that.

I know for a fact in my city, I'm not even supposed to prune trees/shrubs on the boulevard. Lisa is in a different part of Canada from me. But odds are good she lives close to a friend of mine who had to protect a "city tree" when she put in her pool. The tree was just a sapling, and it would have been cheaper for her to remove the tree, and replant a bigger one when the pool was complete than what she had to spend to protect the "tree". I've never heard of Canadian city that wasn't uppity about their trees. :)

Amber, you're correct:)

The tree on the outside edge of sidewalk is owned by the city so it stays. Plus it's 'our' only tree:)

Friends of ours bought a home in central Toronto on a beautiful ravine lot. They wanted to remove 2 ' historical' ( and not very nice) trees on their property, went through the chains for approvals, and were not given the go ahead. Do it, and face big fines.

Lisa, you have a lovely home. Making the change from white to black shutters has really upped the elegance!

Black and brick, esp. red brick, are so classic and elegant.

Sheesh...lol. No worries, not going to do fakes!

Meant that we might go from 1 to 3 flower boxes for the bay window. Real ones only:)

LOVE the change from white shutters to black. I would suggest additional authenticity by installing black iron shutter dogs to the brick to "hold" the shutters in place.

The black and white tiled porch is a GENIUS idea. Another 1000 points for Beverly!

As much as I love window boxes, they just don't look appropriate for a bay window. If you really have to have them, the hayrack style looks insubstantial. Wood (or Azek) constructed boxes with nice corbels holding them up would be much better suited to the size and architecture----although IMO none would be best. Your husband is absolutely right about not trying to remove screens in the windows above to water flowers in boxes, and I am not surprised your painter suggested fakes since he had the bad judgment to paint over your copper roofing!

The large shrubs on either side of your stairs could be replaced with slow growing topiaries of yew or boxwood in a simple and classic cone shape.

Your house looks absolutely lovely with black shutters and the street looks very walkable and friendly!