If you are determined to keep them, just cut them to 6" now and start over ... the sooner the better. You can get a nice 10" folding pruning saw (Corona) that will cut through them easily by hand. (One trunk at a time.)

Before you reshape them, ask yourself if they are in the right place for your long term goals. Their placement does not impress me.

yes, even a planting of some annuals for this summer would be much more inviting.

I'd try loppers before a saw. Is it privet?

Unfortunately I have no idea what they are. I am going to see what the hardware store has soon. Thank you.

Post a picture on the Name this plant forum and you'll get an instant answer. It may affect how you are going to hack it (and whether it's worth it).

Thanks, guys. Just an update here. This is what I could do with the loppers I got. I also bought a folding saw I haven't used yet. Hopefully they survive and I can try to cut them to look more symmetrical.

I do hate how the hose and clean out pipe are visible now. I was thinking about planting my Nandina or Four O'Clock in front of that space but then everything would be even further off balance. Any advice is welcome.

You have essentially two ways to maintain this plant arrangement: as a single hedge, where all the shrubs grow together into a single mass ... or as single shrubs, where each is separate from the other. Regardless of which design you choose, the consistent aspect of shrub trimming is that the base is trimmed wider than the top, so that sunlight reaches the lower foliage and it continues to live. (Where the back faces the house, it will be cut straight and not matter as it will not be seen.) If the top is wider than the base -- as is seen in the shrub at the left side of your house -- then lower foliage will eventually begin to die off and the shrub will assume the form of a tree, as if it were on little stilts. (See this beginning in the shrub, second from right, in your original picture.) In an individual shrub, trimming in a ball shape would be incorrect because it undercuts the base, shading it by the top. A dome shape would be correct because the base is wider (or no less wide) than any portion above it. That said, most landscape designers do not use a series of dome shapes in a line anywhere near as much as they would use a hedge, which is simpler to look at and simpler to maintain. The series of balls is usually the result of a homeowner thinking it is cute and maintaining what would have otherwise been a hedge, in that arrangement.

After deciding between a single hedge or 4 individual shrubs, one would next decide on how this is best maintained: through regular, tight clippings designating the outer limits of the foliage ... or through annual coppicing, where all trunks of the shrub are cut to the ground. They quickly regrow with the final result looking simultaneously thick and bushy, and loose and natural. The problem for you using coppicing here is that all stems (trunks) grow out in a relatively uniform length. If they ended up nearly reaching the window bottom, they would also be nearly reaching the door.