Well, it's winter. Everyone's house looks a little dull when the sky is grey and everything is covered with snow :)

IMO, hardscape is the most effective way to add curb appeal. A wide graceful walkway that ends in a generous landing at your porch will give your house presence and interest.

Love the house. Will the new roof be gray? Lots of color options with gray roofs. Is the brick shown all of it? If so, I'd probably remove it since it's not adding much interest. I don't have color recs for the gray siding. You just have to get sample cans to test some out. Personally, I wouldn't go too dark. A soft, dove gray would be pretty with white trim. Tons of options for door color, including red. Your shutters are actually too small for the double windows. Each shutter should be half the window's width. Up to you but a wide trim around the windows would be another choice.

One thing you might think about is a garage door with windows across the top that mimic the panes in your other windows. Would be really nice.

My only thought is not too dark on the gray & not too white on the trim... might look a little jarring with the angles on your house. And I wouldn’t add any doodads on the peaks, there’s already enough going on there. Personally, I would go with a different color.

cloebud, thanks for your input. Roof probably would be gray, haven't looked into that yet. Would you suggest replacing the stutters with wide trim? How wide would they need to be, especially in the middle window upstairs? Would you suggest a larger window in the middle?

What do you think about mixing the siding styles (shake vs lap)? how should we split it up on the front of the house?

Gray is the best color for a roof IMO. It not only looks great, but opens up your color choices for the rest of the house. I wouldn't think twice about that at all.

The large, middle window looks to be a good size.

The shutter issue is up to you. Most shutters I see are too small with some ridiculously so. The "rule" (if you happen to care) is shutters, whether decorative or functional, should be sized to cover a window when closed. You can see how large they'd need to be to cover a double window.

I'm not a pro so I'll leave the trim width up to them to help you. Same for the shake and lap. Have you looked online for "shake and lap exteriors?"

If it were me, I'd do the following.

1. figure out a way to get rid of the gable over the roof. It adds nothing and actually calls attention to the garage and away from the house.

2. Add garage doors with windows.

3. Get rid of the fake shutters. Shutters should look as if they could cover the windows if they were closed.

4. Add round doric type columns and forget about railings. You're on the ground. You don't need the railings but I do agree with you to beef up the columns.

5. Beef up the trim around the windows so it's not so skimpy looking. Look at older homes to see how best to beef it up.

6. If you want to do shakes and siding, do shakes for the second floor and siding on the first floor but paint both the same color.

I would go with a light dove gray for the siding, a charcoal roof, wide white trim (4-5" wide) and a great color for the front door. I agree about adding windows to the garage doors. I would also add larger, more substantial coach lights to the front porch.

@Cpartist Would you recommend the shakes and lap siding combo, or do you think that it would look better with horizontal lap on most of house mixed with wider vertical lap? Would you put vertical lap (or shakes) on the entire top or just on the areas that have peaks?