The only hardscape that is visible is the concrete curb and walk. This could be part of your problem. on the down slope of the hill, don't know whats on the rt side of the photo but a nice knee wall of a unilock, techno block, etc.. retaining system with a balance planting on the topside would look nice. also, a variation of plants to give you a bit more color, golds, glossy greens, flowering shrubs/perennials, etc. Coloring is just as important as plant diversity. but you can achieve the same goal with small groupings of the same small plantings. Sometimes simple is better, othere times it is not. depends on designer, goals, plant material available, and more importantly, personal preference. I do alot of design work, not only for my own company but for some of my competitors as well. Getting to know what the customers taste is is almost as challenging as the job its self. Good Luck Here is a link that might be useful: Lafayette Landscape & Construction, Inc.

Replace roof with dark gray shingles. Replace small windows in dormers with larger windows to scale adding trim around each. Remove storm door and add trim around front door and around lower level windows as well. If you can, add panes to all windows. Add veneer stone to match existing rock wall. add new light fixtures each side of front door and above garage door. Remove all plantings then add climbing roses each side of stairs. Add ground cover at top of stone wall that cascades over softening lines. Remove metal awning replacing with wooden portico extending from existing roofline. Remove wrought iron railing and replace with wood/pvc/vinyl.Personally I would paint the brick a pale gray and add black or dark gray shutters, both of which are classic colors for cape cod style houses. Good luck.

The lattice skirting on the side doesn't bother me, but I'm a gardener, so I'd probably plant a variety of hostas in front of it, and I'd hang pots of bright-colored flowers between the porch posts. The bump-out at the front of the house (1st pic) is odd. Depending on the function of that room, a larger window there, like a bay window, might improve the appearance. I'd also plant a nice flowering shrub at the inside corner of the porch between the front and side of the house. Something like a rhododendron... depends on your location and sunlight it gets, but your lot looks generally shady.

Is that your garage on the left side of the house? If you're planning to replace the deck, you might consider altering the steps so they turn toward your driveway instead of forward between the trees, or, better yet .... What rooms are in the left "wing" of the house? How would you feel about swapping some of your room around and making what is now the living room shaded by the trees your master bedroom? Could the front and room in that left wing on the north side nearest the garage become your living room with a forward facing front door opening onto a covered front porch in that left front "available" corner ... a bit farther away from the trees and with a roof, a porch there could end up with less tree fallout ... and less slippery steps. You might fill up most of that corner with a front porch but on the three feet or so on the left side, create a landing and forward facing steps from that landing. If these ideas interest you, draw the floor plan of the house, to scale, on graph paper with measurements listed and noting all doors and windows and any fixed features you would not move and post that and get some feedback from the pros here on Houzz on that. Or even do the interior changes, including possible floor plan changes, that you may be considering as a separate post.