I would recommend removing the bushes and planting something that will be smaller and make the front of the house look better, as well as not cover the windows. I would never suggest painting the bricks they look nice. I do think the trim on the house and the door color is to close to the paint color though. Maybe paint the trim a darker color and then the door a contrasting color. Also remove the shutters. the windows are two big for them.

Thanks...

What Verona said. And maybe paint the shutters the same color as the door or the roof.

I also agree with Verona's suggestions. Definitely remove the shutters, and replace them with wide trim. You might think about a new door since the current one is somewhat dated.

The brick looks nice. A closeup could help with color choices for the trim.

Cute house, doesn't need a lot. The front shrubs are overgrown; remove and refresh with something more contemporary but easy-care (not so tall they will require constant pruning). Do you need a walkway to the front door? If so, make it nice and wide, whether out to the street or off to the side to your parking area. A wide walk adds enormously to the look of most homes. If adding a walk, be sure to leave deep enough beds against the house -- 6 to 8 ft. -- so your new shrubs will have space to grow to their natural habit.

Shutters can be very controversial here. :-) I say if you like them, keep them. If you want the more modern look, remove them. The door could use an update as previously stated. Colors: I might consider painting the shutters and fascia royal or navy, and the door, front of portico and columns white. And 'yes!' to the new columns as illustrated above.

P.S. Meant to say widen the steps to the full width of the porch for a more welcoming look.

I agree with removing the shrubs and replace them with a few plants and mulch. Right now they close in the house and hide it and have no curb appeal. If you are in a climate where spring has already come you may be able to get a few plants from a gardener who is dividing theirs or if you are going to be working on the house for a while maybe you could get some later. You do need a walkway to the door. It can curve around to the driveway. If you are working within a small budget use bricks or small pavers to edge it and fill the center with pea gravel. You might be able to find old bricks at a salvage place,

New columns would look good but are not necessary. If you like the shutters paint them, the window trim and porch a pale blue gray to tie into the gray of the roof and give some contrast to the brick. Blue is the complimentry color of the yellow in your brick. A pale soft blue gray will make them stand out and not be as harsh as white. Then I'd paint the door so it stands out. Navy would be nice or you can stick with the blue gray but in a deeper shade. Whatever color you use for the door do a swab of it and hold it up to the door before you paint to see if you'd like it

Let me try again: white door. Above the door, the flat part of the porch that faces the camera -- white, and white columns.

Royal or navy on the shutters and the trim along the edge of the roof.

Look at bellburgmaggie's altered photo above -- white as she shows the porch and columns but see how the trim is a separate color along the edge of the roof.

If there is painted trim around the window frames, that could be either white or blue, as you prefer.

I wouldn't go dark for the trim. It will just make your whole house look darker. The paler color of a light blue gray will make those the shutters, trim and porch stand out and give contrast to the house and you already have a shade of that color in your roof. Your door is a focal point and should be a different color and a darker door will stand out against the light color surrounding it. I'm an artist and we have a saying--you need the dark to show the light and vice versa.

You can spray on a brick stain that will not be a maintenance issue for the flip. I normally do not like painted brick but in this instance, the brick is not attractive IMO. Perhaps a good powerwash would help which you will have to do regardless. But with the metal roof color, I would go with a grey brick stain sprayed on. I am posting some photos with a little landsape tweak so you can see the impact. Look at www.dyebrick.com for ideas and process. You can even turn this into a red brick house which would be adorable.

some ideas

I, too, would stay away from dark trim, preferring a medium body color (which the brick already is) and a light/white trim. The dark trim to me either looks goth, gloomy or downright wicked depending on how dark. White trim looks cheery and happy. For anything other than trim, I'd stay away from yellow/brown/orange beige. Explore other options. I'd definitely consider replacing the metal porch roof "columns" with something solid and graceful.

As others have pointed out, you need a whole new foundation planting scheme, and a visible way to get to the front door. Do not pen in walks with plantings or cover windows with shrubbery. Place color interest near the house entrance and the walk entrance as two possibilities. Consider displaying the trunks of a small, multi-trunk tree in front of the blank wall space.

I can see a case for white trim, too. Free yourself to experiment -- get small samples of the paint and try them on the shutters and trim before committing to your colors. I looked for brick with blue, a few photos from the web:

Monroe · More Info

If you click on this montage to enlarge, the photo in the upper right shows off the blue shutters.

If you go with white trim don't go stark white--go with a white with a hint of color or off white. Those blue shutters in the pictures above are not on a house with your color brick. I suggest you go into the DIY network on line and look at the houses that the experts have done

This house appears to be on a suburban lot. Unless you have a real compelling reason, I would not invest in a walkway from the road. In suburbia, that's the purpose of the driveway! Few folks enter the house from the road, even your neighbors walk up the driveway! The key to suburban charm is the path from the driveway to the house! If you're flipping the house or renting it, why invest in redoing the portico. It's not that bad. Invest in a nice pathway to the front door from wherever it is most likely that folks will be coming, and tear out and redo foundation shrubs, replacing with things that will stay small without pruning, easy care. Most bang for your buck.

Sorry, really bad advise about the sidewalk. The sidewalk allows your eye to follow to the front door. And I don’t want people walking down my driveway into my backyard, how creepy. That is why the front door exists and a sidewalk to it exists. In my part of the world, the people who enter via your driveway are there either for a service call or to car jack you. We have had several cases of this recently and they all come down the driveway which should signal either a 911 call (if no service appointment) or time to pull out Smith & Wesson for assistance. I even have an alarm buzzer on my driveway for this reason.

This photo/posting is of the front yard, not the back yard. Does the area have a sidewalk? Looks like no. In my neighborhood, parking is illegal along the busy road, so everyone comes into my house via the driveway which is right next to my house, even the neighbors who cut across the yard to visit. I would advise a walkway from the driveway to the FRONT door in suburbia for just that reason, for formal callers. My point was, the most important walkway is the walkway to the front door, and I might add, to discourage prowlers, important to keep the foliage in that area low and minimal, which is not the case with the poster's house. There are big shrubs to hide behind right up by the front door and no visible path to it, which seems to me would deter visitors with positive reasons to be there. Therefore, if this was my house, my most important landscaping goal would be to open up the front of my house to view and access, for the very safety reasons BBM mentions. And then sure, fine, if you want a sidewalk to nowhere, or if parking is encouraged along the street, after that, spend away. My advice in a neighborhood with a sidewalk would be quite different. But even then, sheesh, just use woodchips. I have such a nice woodchipped walkway into my exurban workspace from the sidewalk along the street. It's a cottage though, and in the city with city-folks shoes, it would probably be best to pave. I'd only use a brick/paver walkway if it was short, and this does not look like a short space. At the very least, the cost-effective option would be poured concrete. Again, if you have lots of money for hardscaping, ignore my advice and hardscape away! I am a lover of hardscape, but its costs can add up fast.

"Sorry, really bad advise about the sidewalk."

Not bad advice at all!!. In many parts of the country, a sidewalk leading to a not very well traveled semi-rural road is just a waste of materials. It will never get used. In my area, UPS trucks, delivery and repairmen and any guests all park in the driveway because a) there is NO streetside parking allowed (will block clearance) or b) the house is located a significant distance from the street anyway. A 100' long walkway to the street or a more direct, 20-25' route from the driveway??

A sidewalk/entry pathway should be located where it is most convenient.....both to the homeowners and to any visitors. If that means connecting to the driveway - as it does in many situations - then that's where it should be located! What is difficult to accept about that? It is important to remember that one's own experience or situation does not necessarily apply universally to all others!

And it is pretty darn easy to prevent delivery or repair people from wandering into your back yard. Really!!

This is why the first step in landscaping is to determine your needs. Landscaping can take many forms, which will depend on the taste and needs of the home owner. Also live with the space a bit, that will help you determine how you use your yard. Also your zone. I can't really tell from the photo, but I'm thinking maybe a zone that is warm most of the year. In my zone, you don't want shrubs too close to the house because they can hold moisture and debris up next to the house, which is bad for the house finishes, but also bad because the bugs and critters they hide can get into your house! Also in a fire zone, you don't want plants up next to the house that are going to catch on fire! Once you get that down, you need a plan, and also a budget. There are many tradeoffs to be made to elegantly provide utility and beauty, not just one way to skin a cat.

Per the walkway discussion, I have to agree that a hard walk from street directly to the front door is generally redundant and unnecessary. What we need is a path of some sort that is clear, obvious and fairly direct. To bring it from the driveway can meet these requirements, but the path needs to be wide and attractive enough so as to be an asset to the overall picture. While plain concrete works and is the accepted standard all over the world, it certainly helps to upgrade the material if at all possible. Even if it's concrete, it can be upgraded easily in several ways -- widening it, giving it a decorative edge (even if it's merely scoring), or giving the surface some texture or color. Another option is to use a totally different material such as bricks or pavers.

Again, as pointed out, it would be a mistake to set the walk too close to the house because it would kill foundation planting opportunities. Speaking in very general terms, I'd say that any foundation bed edge needs to be AT LEAST 6' from the house wall. That's a minimum. So a walk might end up being 8', 10' or 12' from the wall, depending on many factors including the route, which we don't know at this point. The walk would be laid out in plan view, keeping in mind a future foundation planting and what might be in it. As I mentioned earlier, a small (15' ...?), multi-trunk tree might be useful against the blank wall space. It would be important to consider something like that during the walk design process. The walk design should be finished before the planting design begins.