If you have a chainsaw you can cut to within 6" from the ground. Will be traumatic to shrubs; yes, could die, but cruel reality is shrubs were poorly placed so no big loss. Frequent pruning thereafter will keep shrubs from obscuring windows (lots of work).

i can't tell from pic what they are but looks like privet, a common shrub and not a great loss if it dies. And before you go on planning for replacement, know this is going to take a lot of effort to cut and effort to burn or haul away, so one thing at time. It can be done, it MUST be done as shrubs are swallowing your pretty house. Leaving it bare for a little while will give you time to think about the look you want and not plant Willy nilly like person b4 you.

There will be people on this site that will give you marvelous advice re: best plants, Placement, care for your area. Good luck.

I would certainly remove the inner row completely. And probably cut the exterior row back significantly. If it IS privet (can't see enough detail to confirm), they will handle a hard pruning with ease.

I would also probably elect to plant groundcovers or annuals in the area now occupied by the interior row of shrubs but you will need to dig out the rootballs of the shrubs first.......privet has an ability to regenerate from just stubs.

If I were living there, I would remove the exterior row as well and rethink the planting plan for the entire front entryway. But that would require a much more significant financial investment on your part and as a renter, I understand why that is not ideal.

Could you give us a closer picture of the bushes so we could identify it? I agree that it looks like a privet, but it would be good to be certain before you haul out the chain saw.

You can cut through
2" of wood with a reciprocating electrical saw that you can rent from Home
Depot or some other local hardware store. A reciprocating electrical saw is
less intimidating than a chainsaw. Whatever you choose, cut slowly, wear protective
clothing, protective eyewear and heavy gloves. Make frequent pauses, take a
whole weekend, if necessary, better to lose a weekend than to lose a finger.

I would completely
remove the back row indeed and plant the bed. I would not lower the front row,
but take out every other plant or whatever it takes to create gaps in the front
row and display (in part) whatever you planted in the bed where the back row
was.

In the same way, I
would thin out the plantings on the left and display whatever you choose to
plant in the space gained.

If it is privet then it will be difficult to kill so cut back as described but be prepared to repeat the work every month during the growing season to keep them down to size.

If it isn't or you like the idea of small trees then you could arborize them, basically cut out the small stuff and limb them up into small trees. It is fun and creative to carve a tree out of an overgrown shrub, if you choose to do it then start with the shrub that matters least to get the hang of which sort branches to trim. Cut the ones hitting the house and drooping down in the path, be sure to leave some crotches so it looks more like a tree and so on. Once done you may decide to you don't need so many 'trees' then remove ones you don't want.

A good pruning saw costs about $20 and will take down those shrubs easily. Love my Corona Razor Tooth, just took out half a dozen 1-2" bamboo culms yesterday with it and I'm not a strong professional gardener.

Removal of everything. Wrong plants for the spot.

I agree with that, Logan, but removal of the root mass of an old privet hedge is a huge job unless you've got a backhoe sitting around. Since it's a rental, OP would be better off cutting them down to stubs and keeping the regrowth under control.

if you think you'd like the look of trimming them up, do it. it costs you only the time, and if you don't like it, cut them down and nothing lost.

there's going to come a time where you have to be honest...how much work do you want to put into this? cutting them down, letting them reflush, and keeping that trimmed in a more compact manner (ie, under the window) is going to be relatively simple. Pulling them out, in a narrow space between a brick walk and a house is not going to be simple.

If you own it, start over. Cutting them down (rejuvenation pruning) and keeping the new growth under control counts. As a place you rent? I'd go with the pruning, but honestly, that's your call, and you may want to talk to the owner on that too.