Okay, let's see if I can catch up on all of your helpful posts! I met with a landscaper and we were pretty much on the same page but there were a few things that I didn�t agree with. Maybe I just have no clue what I'm doing and maybe his recommendations are truly better than the picture I have in my head! I'll be meeting with another designer on Monday to get his take on it. The first guy was free and we just talked about what the plan would be. The second guy charges $50, but will draw up a whole design. They also do driveways, which the first company does not do. The one thing that I really didn't like about the first guy was that I felt like I had seen all of his ideas in my neighborhood already. I don't want something crazy that doesn't fit the house or neighborhood, but I also don't want the same thing everyone else has. How do you get your house to stand out from the others but still "fit"? Just because everyone else has "x" number of garden beds and "x" amount of front yard grass doesn't mean I have to, right? I did read over our HOA docs and they simply state that no more than 20% of the yard can be raised garden beds or container gardens. I would really like to make maintaining the lawn easier and to shade the front a little more. He wasn't on board with that. As I said before our yard is quite short, only 25 ft deep from the sidewalk to the front brick. So that will definitely play a big part in the design. The front tree is a cherry tree (with fruit) and I have been told that it will grow large enough to provide cover for the front window, not too sure about the door. Every arborist and landscaper that I have talked to seem happy with that tree and tell me not to touch it. The shutters have actually done quite well with all of the sun and heat that they get exposed too. No warping or anything. Considering the roof color is a good point. I think the wrought iron color would look great. I still don�t know what I want to do with the door. I have been playing with pictures of the house for days now. I've cut and pasted so many different designs I'm stuck. I think that there are some styles and looks that definitely work, some that definitely don't work, and then there are the in-between ones. I don't mind having my house look a little different then the neighborhood. I have two tri-levels on each side of me and three true 2 story colonials across the street from me. From my mock-ups I think can get away with some different looks that neither of the other two styles could pull off. And that is why I'm stuck. Too many ideas. I think a designers eye is what I need. The other challenge I am having right now is prioritizing what to do with the house first. The inside still needs to be painted. I could use some new furniture too. If I did do painting I would want to update the lighting while the ceilings are getting a fresh coat. As far as the outside goes, we obviously need landscaping. But we could also use new gutters and soffits, possibly a new door, and new hardscaping. My husband would also like to close in the carport. There is just so much to do and I don't know where to start. The changes we have already made to the inside were easy because they were done out of necessity. Really none of these other things have to be done. I think that I would like to focus on the outside simply because I have a 4yr old and 1yr old that make it a little harder to maintain the inside versus the outside. And I can handle the inside myself. I obviously need professional help with the exterior. So, any ideas on how to prioritize my projects?

Since the houses you've shown have little landscaping, and since that's my interest, I don't have a whole lot to offer other than to again suggest that the entire hedge needs removal across the front of your house. Note the wide walkways in both of your examples. I would do something similar from the parking pad to your porch leaving a wide entry pad in front of the porch, similar to how wide the steps are in both of your examples, such as from the wall with the door over to the center post. Consider whether continuing the walkway out the road makes sense; does anyone walk to your house or park down by the road? Add a pair of tall pots on a firm surface off the porch to frame the entry, one in front of the pillar and one in front of the wall just to the left of the door, but not where it will hide the door. Choose pots that fit your aesthetic and with colors that work with whatever you do with the house. If the brick on your house goes down to near the ground, put in a bed of evergreen groundcover from the right pot over to the end of the porch and from the left pot over to the shrub at the end of the house. Be sure the bed has a cleanly maintained edge to keep it looking tidy. If you want some shrubs, you can add them to the groundcover bed (being sure that the bed is deep enough to accommodate whatever you choose) or place shrubs or trees further out into the yard to give some feeling of shelter from the road, and consider using some of the same plants used in the garden to the left will provide continuity. If you live in an area with a lot of snow and ice, choose your plants across the front of the house to be able to tolerate snow getting dumped on them, especially if you decide to go with a metal roof. I have a similar area that has groundcovers, perennials that die back for winter, and some shrubs that if damaged by roof dumps can be cut to near the ground and will grow within a few weeks. In doing landscaping, do the home work first such as roofing, painting or repairs, then do hardscape such as walkways, and finally do bed prep and planting. Choose plants that won't overgrow the space they are planted in to reduce pruning work. If you choose to paint your brick to get the feel of your examples, be aware that you will have taken a low maintenance surface and turned it into one that will need ongoing maintenance - cleaning and painting as needed which will add time and expense. I am not wild about your current black shutters and white trim. Perhaps start by choosing colors with a less stark contrast between the brick and the trim such as a sage or the color of the siding on the ell and painting all your trim that same color. Live with that for a while to see if it works better aesthetically for you.

Thank you Door Depot and Rachel Lee for your comments. Quick background info: The front door was painted white and remained white for years. I changed the color last year when I painted it maroon. I wanted a change and thought the maroon was an okay choice. Apparently not... The front porch is an eyesore in part due to the underscaled steps and the columns and the woefully narrow walkway that leads to the porch. Due to its modest width it is not possible to use the porch space with furniture (other than the bench shown on the photo) so I use it spring thru the fall to place large planters and fill them with plants and flowering plants. Late fall the planters are moved into the garage so they are not subjected to freeze/thawing which would crack the containers. I welcome your input and your interest helping me remedy the challenges. If the consensus is that the door really must be white, then I will heed the houzz community advice and abandon the notion that a change of color would bring about a meaningful difference.

NNo shutters and IMO no window boxes this is a contemporary don’t mess with the style . You have space bewtweeen the house and the drive way to landscape are those panels at the front in the garage area? This is one of my fave landscape ideas usually for a MCM house but I think it has great ideas for inspiration with your house. Since the windows need replacing I would do black ones and no grids