I Like Yard's sketch... added dark grey shutters, red door, and planter to the left of door for additional curb appeal. I find the white shutters with white trim and white door takes away from the look of the house. For cheap, you could paint them and make the white trim pop. This post was edited by SC77 on Sat, Apr 19, 14 at 21:50

Yes, do what I did not do, pull the doors and then store them somewhere if you ever want to sell the house. IMHO, a round table, in front of the fireplace but moved out a bit so you can get around it, will look cozy and suit your daily needs. It's quite common in Victorian or European homes. You can expand when you have company. There's nothing wrong with people coming right into your house. You only open and close the door when they come and leave. The only thing to plan for is the dirt that will track in. With your hardwood floors, you're at an advantage compared to someone who had carpet. Here's a photo from the Pottery Barn web site. The table is even on sale now. They show it on the web page also matched with chairs similar to yours. Note: I don't have any affiliation with PB, it's just an example of what's out there. You could even get a little tea cart to put between the two chairs under the stairwell, and roll it to where it is needed for meals. https://www.potterybarn.com/products/tivoli-round-extending-pedestal-dining-table/?pkey=cround-tables&isx=0.0.4388

Your house isn't ugly. The first word that comes to mind is dramatic. If you truly want a change from the "box", you need to change shapes rather than just materials. On the downstairs left rear side, you might want to wrap and enlarge that post so the upstairs doesn't appear to be a "box" in danger of falling. You could also wrap that front shed roof around that left side to minimize the "box" look. You could remove and totally change the front porch roof creating a forward facing two story gable that extends forward more. You already have a sloped roof on the right side, just continue that slope to the center of the front entry space and then use the same slope to connect with the roof on the left. You could do something like this: http://kapemvun.info/5-roses-5-solutions/

Doing a little more digging. Thinking a Pavillion over the deck, filling the space between the entry door and the lookers right side of the deck. Thinking the sloped roof would help fill the space above, break up the wall, and give us some usable covered space outside. Something like this, but on our deck/attached to the house. Any photo wizards that could help me get a better visual on our actual home?