Aesthetically, turning the carport into an entry patio will make the door easier to find. However, living in an area with snow, I can understand perfectly if you would find that solution unacceptable since it would reduce both the size of your parking area and the only covered parking, necessitating snow and ice removal from vehicles after every storm. That can be time you don't want to spend if you are late for work. I think one key would be to have the entry door very well lit, perhaps with an overhead skylight for daytime, but with bright, period appropriate fixtures regardless to signal to visitors that this isn't just vehicle storage. It looks like now you center the vehicles when parking in the carport, and I would start getting in the habit of parking as far over to the right as possible as another signal to visitors that there is a passageway into the house there. Having a dedicated paved path that leads to the house and then jogs over to the right to continue into the carport and door would also be a good signal to visitors which way to go. I would use a consistent paving for the walkway from the street or public sidewalk all the way to the door that is different from what is used for the driveway and carport, which may not be period appropriate, but will be another signal to visitors to distinguish path vs. driveway. If budget is tight, perhaps reuse of the parking pad brick would work for the walkway. Regardless of what you decide, keep in mind snow removal and where it will be placed that isn't on the path or driveway.

The last thing I consider especially for exteriors is which direction the front door/windows faces. Because the light is constantly changing throughout the day and the year - it's a point of criteria that literally changes by the second. I understand your attraction to the cleaner whites in terms of chips and samples. What you need to try to anticipate is what happens to white on a bigger scale and in sunlight. Just because the house faces north, doesn't mean it's on the dark side of the moon. Sunlight - from all directions - strips chromaticity or colorfulness. So that "clean" white that looks good on samples and chips ends up looking rather arctic. Simply White is a really good suggestion because it has a little bit of chroma/colorfulness and there's a chance it will "wash out" and look just right once installed. As a general rule, you can always go a little darker and a little more colorful on exteriors than you think you can because, again, sunlight will knock back the intensity.

All the suggestions for whole house and yard is too much for a single thread. For landscaping, start another thread for front yard and a separate one for back yard. For each, take photos the better display the areas in question. For the front yard, line the camera up with the front door and be no no more than about 30' away. from that one spot take a series of slightly overlapping photos that pan from far left to far right. You'll want to include space beyond the left and right of the house such that the neighboring houses are shown in the background. For the back yard, use the same principle but line up with the center of the house. Be about 25' or 30' away from it. Be sure to capture the complete width from lot line to lot line.

That's a wonderful first home and looks well maintained - congratulations. From the examples you've been given, I would go with one of the darker greens, or darker brown. My own single story MCM is dark unsweetened chocolate brown - all of it, no brick other than built in planters in front - and in searching back through neighborhood photos, has been this color since built 1955. I have no plans to change it. I like the way it blends into the landscape as though a part of it, and not something just dropped into place from somewhere else ;0) I think blue would have that effect on your home with the treed background. One thing the PO had done here was paint the underside of the soffits warm white. I think if the darker color, it would appear a little dark when inside looking out...you might want to keep that in mind when painting along your parking and basketball hoop area and keep the part the overhangs the brick light colored on the underside. No one will notice from outdoors.