What's dark? Too much shade? Or the paint? If it's the paint, I'd advice picking a shade of cream that works with your siding and painting the brown stuff. You might get more light on the porch with just painting the ceiling white, light blue or cream. If it's the shade, you could, over a few years, remove some of the lower branches of the tree. A bigger, brighter welcome mat would help. One that is the width of the door. Flanking the door with pots with some kind of dry grass might help, too. And, of course, if it's dim at dusk, put in porch lights.

I'm not a fan of painting brick as it turns a no maintenance product into a long term maintenance issue. The brick seems to have more browns than grays in it but the roof is gray. You need to find a color that marries the two. Something in the taupe family would work. Also, a couple of other things. If you plan on keeping shutters I would switch to a wider shutter that is correctly sized for you windows. The current ones are too narrow. Also, the area without a railing in front of the door needs to have one installed. Building codes require them if the change in elevation is more than 30", which yours definitely is. If you're interested in seeing some virtual makeovers of your house check out my website, Creative Visual Concepts.

Thanks very much! I accidentally included pictures that showed the front of the house before we replaced the kitchen window and added a window to the left of the front door. The quick background is we renovated the kitchen during quarantine (because that is a fun project to take on with working remotely full time in IT and having kids at home 24/7 :)) and as part of that project we replaced the double casement kitchen window with one that has a larger, fixed center flanked by casement windows on each side. We took the old kitchen window and added it to the bedroom that is to the left of the front door. Previously, there was no window on that wall. This seemed like a no brainer at the time because the wall to the left of the door was begging for a window. We also ended up adding a 4 ft. by 5 ft. double casement window to a wall in the master bedroom that looks out onto the backyard. Against my better judgement I ordered the same window for a smaller bedroom that has the same orientation to the backyard as the master bedroom. My hesitation in ordering it was that this bedroom is smaller and has french doors that open onto our back patio, and I suspected the window was going to be too large for the room. Once it arrived, it was clear that I had made a mistake. However, I had an aha moment when I realized it would be perfect in the front bedroom (to the left of the front door). If you are reading along at home and shaking your head, I UNDERSTAND! SO! The window by the front door will be replaced with the new window. May I claim quarantine craziness?! I swear I'm usually much better at executing on projects.

Thank you all so much for your wonderful suggestions!! @ShadyWillowFarm I agree with you. They are plantation shutters you see in the windows, so I feel like I can’t bring myself to take them down (at least not yet). Yes, there is a carport before the garage- I hadn’t considered updating the garage door until you mentioned it and I so agree! The basketball hoop was the previous owners and has since been moved :) @FloMangan I love your idea of a metal roof above the bay windows and the fountain!! The fountain itself I think would make a huge difference as you walk up towards the house and driving by. I’m not sure of the door dimensions but I will check tonight. Thank you! @RedRyder Unfortunately the roof was just redone by the previous owner in Feb 2022, so I’ll have to live with it. But you’re so right about bronze versus black as the dark color! And I love your analogy.. she’s a pretty woman in a black dress who just needs some jewelry! (and don’t we all! haha)