Pay an arborist to majorly prune and thin the (currently leafless) tree by the front window. Remove the house-high hedge that obscures the right half of the house. Possibly the low hedges should stay. As you are super-newbies -- do not, I repeat, do not, take everything down to a clean slate. Leave the bones of the garden, do your best to make the lawn green and evenly mowed and edged. That will be enough to endear you to your neighbors. Add a cheery bowl-shaped pot full of seasonal annuals for color on the porch, and you are good to go. Then take time to learn about accent plants to add color and texture, gradually. Have fun!

It is a cute house and snobs must live nearby. I would remove the tree. It is not in a good location. What is behind the tall hedge? Is something hideous back there that is being hidden? If not, I would trim it to below any windows and then remove the hedge in front. They do not seem to be be different enough in appearance to justify a hedge right in front of another hedge. Since you will be minus a tree you will need to plant a new one. I would plant it on the right side of the lawn this time and further from the house. If you are in a cold location you will have to wait for spring to reduce the hedge.

If she will allow it, and only if you are a good painter, you could paint the windows white.

While I would not recommend placing a tree where the existing one is, given that the situation is rental, and that the tree already exists and is a major element, and that it looks redeemable, I think I would allow it to remain and expend some effort toward refining it into something nice. It looks like a crape myrtle and if it is, you could easily reshape it and control its size. Trim off the trunks that spread too wide, and all the twigs coming from them, and chop off its head even with the eaves during the winter or early spring (before it leafs out.) Another small tree, if desired, could go at the right side. Or, if you're feeling super ambitious, relocate the existing crape during this winter to the other (right) side of the front.

We have no idea what is behind the the existing hedge but I'm going to guess a window. I would treat both windows as shown, with a single shrub each. (If it turns out to be something other than a window, we can talk about it after you chop the hedges down and show a new picture.) Personally, I wouldn't give a rat's petooty about any of the existing shrubs as they are so out of place and overgrown. Two new shrubs would cost you about $30 and be up and running in no time. Per my usual, everything sits in a bed of groundcover that ties the loose ends together. Some annuals at each side of the steps could cheer up the front. I don't know why you want things in containers as they would be more difficult to take care of.

Leave the small deciduous tree - which is actually quite well placed in relation to the front of the house alone and remove the sheared shrubs.

Do not install formal matching pairs of shrubs and trees within informal flowing beds as shown in the above drawing as the two different elements do not go together.

Thanks everyone! Behind the tall shrubs: the patio extends and above the patio is a window indeed. Nothing hideous. Between the short and tall shrubs is a paved walkway about 2-3' wide

I must ask ... between the short and tall shrubs, is it a walkway anyone would ever walk on?

Very nice drawing Yardvaark.

Yardvaark, the walkway gets some use but mostly there is a kitchen door on the side of the house that is the main entrance. Guests and solicitors are the ones who would use the walkway and they park at the street...so they don't notice the walkway as an option

Tori, I'm trying to find out if I understand you correctly in that the walkway is placed between the two rows of shrubs ...? (running parallel with the front house face/street). Could you please show the complete walk in a picture?

May I just say I think your house is actually tasteful and nice looking? I would love to have you as a neighbor. And I am as big a snob as they come! An east coast version, of course.

I also think the house is adorable. Other than the tree needing pruning and the massively tall shrub on the right side (up against the house) needing to be removed (or pruned aggressively), I don't think the landscaping looks bad as a starting point. I agree with kiminpl that as newbies you should focus on taking good care of what's there and making small steps to improve it as time and money allows vs. trying anything too aggressive and ending up with something worse. If the neighbors live in massive homes, nothing you do is likely to make them happy.

If that walkway really isn't being used (as it sounds like it's not), removing it could part of a phased plan. I personally don't think the right side needs another tree. Good luck!

Standing in driveway facing house

Standing in front of crepe myrtle facing porch

Imagine having on nice clothes and it has just rained. Who is going to want to walk through that pinched hallway? No one! The shrubs have made it completely uninviting. What would be any point of retaining those shrubs when the more they exist/grow, the more they cause an unpleasant effect? The brick walk looks like it might need some repair, but also like it is probably usable. it might have some use if it wasn't overgrown with foliage.