The house is charming and the paint job you've done on it really makes some of the special details pop. I especially like that you've painted the foundation to go with the scheme and think viewing the "before and after" shows what a lovely and dramatic difference it makes. Actually, there's nothing on the house that I'd like to see covered with plantings. I like everything. There are no blank spaces begging for "help." But like any structure, it needs some larger plantings at a distance to give it that framed/connected-to-earth look. Using one of your photos, I'll offer these suggestion: A) The conifer at the left, while right now doesn't look that bad, I can easily see that as it grows it's going to dominate the space. In order to keep access to the entrance, you'll be forced to limb up the tree. I don't think that in itself is a horror (as some others surely will,) but eventually, the tree will overwhelm the house and seem out of place. Seems like you'd be so much better off to replace it promptly with a smaller flowering tree... something along the lines/size of a redbud or Magnolia soulangeana. It would present a better picture now and for decades longer than the existing tree could hope to do. B) The house has much charm, but the lattice at the steps looks cheap and entirely from a wrong era. I'd replace it with just plain boards painted with the foundation/trim color. C) Given that the Weigela has already halfway turned itself into a tree form, I'd finish the job and make it look much more tidy. Also, I doubt that there is anything behind it that needs hiding, so why hide it? A multi-trunk tree form would give a more open look and "invite" viewers to see what's beyond. (I would not THIN trunks, but remove any that fall outside of the desirable cone-shaped profile.) A different picture (I'm not showing here) suggests that the Weigela would enjoy being placed in a half or quarter-circle shaped bed (depending on how you tie it to the yard) of low/medium ht. groundcover/perennial, for ease of maintenance as well as appearance. D) A marked blemish on the entire scene is the poor quality grass adjacent to the road. Oceandweller made suggestions about it, too, and I agree with him (?) completely. It the turf was in tip top shape, the house would look even much more special and expensive than it already does. If grass is not feasible adjacent to the roadway, then I'd consider a brick walk that abuts the pavement, but serves primarily as a "frame" for the yard, just to dress up the view. Unless there's a real need for a walk there, I'd opt for the grass repair first.

My pre-Civil War farmhouse in northern NY has no central heat. Always was, and still is, heated with woodstoves. Ours are more efficient and cleaner burning, now. It went through a period when it had coal stoves, but they are awful to live with and a serious health hazard so I wouldn't recommend that. You may not need A/C. Unfortunately the easiest route to A/C is also the least attractive sort of heating: forced air. But you already have some investment in the infrastructure for hydronic heating (hot water radiators). I disagree with other posters about the relatviely efficiency of hot water cast iron radiators vs. hot water in baseboards. Love the first, loathe the second. There are very high efficiency gas-fired boilers (to make the hot water for the radiators and your DHW) if you need to replace the boiler. Fracked gas is much cheaper than Venezuelan oil right now. But tightening up your house and some forms of insulation will give immediate rewards now matter what the season. Before you embark on this however, do read a lot about it as what is often recommended for "newer" old houses (post WWII) is not necessarily the right thing to do with really old houses. Really old buildings that are still extant have a different way of handling air infiltration and moisture ventilating. Combining modern standards with the older technology can get you in trouble. Also do not replace deteriorated old windows. In most instances they can be rehabbed to excellent energy efficiency, while retaining a very critical piece of your house's original design. And old windows, if they need re-rehabbing in another 50-75 years can be done, but newer windows will just be on an endless replacment schedule. One thing that you quickly realize when working with a 19th c house is that what most home improvement purveyors think of as loooooooong warranties, (10-25 years), is barely out of "brand new" when looked at in the context of 150-200 years of service. The very best thing you can do for your house at the outset is nothing other than clean it up and study it for 6 months to a year. Paint some walls, if you must put your own stamp on the place. The ideas you have now need to be informed by what you will discover about the house. And that goes double, or treble, if this is your first old building. The most risky thing for old buildings is a new owner whose bank balance wasn't completely depleted in the purchase. Lucky is the house whose owner had to scrape every penny together for the closing. That's a built-in period of early financial rehabbing instead of early building rehabbing. Below is my standard internet "housewarming present " for new owners. It's a set of documents about caring for old buildings from just common old buildings to museum-level buildings. The principles and methods are the same. And it comes from a non-commercial source (The National Park Service) so they're not trying to sell you anything. Two other valuable websites: John Leeke's (particularly good on structural issues, paint, weatherization and windows): www.historichomeworks.com and a forum of very knowledgeable old-house enthusiasts: www.wavyglass.org (there maybe a "e" in wavy, not sure). HTH L. Here is a link that might be useful: National Park Service Series of Preservation Briefs of many aspects of caring for and repairing old buildings

If you want a forward facing gable over your entry: remove the existing roof of your front porch. It can be replaced with a shed/half roof sloping away from the right exterior side of the house after you create your front porch with a forward facing gable. Enlarge and enclose the walls and flooring of your existing porch so the exterior wall on the side closest to the road is made even with the rest of the front exterior wall of the home. Beginning halfway between the downstairs right front window and the right front corner of the house, create a forward facing gable with a ridge point halfway between that beginning point and a point on the right that is as far right as needed to be even with the far right edge of the existing front porch. Your new front exterior wall of your new wall will be a continuation of your existing front exterior wall and the forward facing gable you create will cover your new 6' deep front porch. Your new entry door will be on the right half of that new front porch. Alternately, remove only the half of your existing porch roof that slopes away from the road and enlarge the walls of your existing porch as before -- to have the wall closest to the road be even with the exterior wall of the home now closest to the road. Then extend it the roof slope on the back upward to a new ridge point that will enable the slope that is on the road side of the house (of even length) to extend over your new front porch -- that will have a shed roof toward the road. Again, put your front entry door in the right side of the new front exterior wall of your new entry and create your gable roof facing the right side of your home. Then create your new sidewalk leading to your new front door. If there is room for a 4' - 6' front stoop between the front exterior wall of your home and the tree w/o harming the tree roots, the tree needn't be cut. Toward that end, you might use a treated deck board floor for your porch rather than dig a footing. As an alternative, you could use a flat roof for your new entry and create a deck that wraps a few feet around your right front corner. Edited to address tree issue and deck issue.

Like the "blue" (not quite gray) door suggested by Maureen, especially if you can invigorate your gray wood fence and front stoop so they don't look as dried out. You might see if you can find a large plastic rectangle planter-- one that would fit left of your stairs in front of your front stoop and then build a wood planter box in the same material as your wood fencing around it, setting the four legs on four bricks or paver stones (with the tops of the b rick or paver stones at ground level) to protect the wood legs of the planter box. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5909275/paint-colour-suggestions-for-my-front-door#25465836