I am not a pro as you can see. I am just a person with an interest in landscaping but I am also a fan on good architecture. I think your house is too classic and lovely to be hidden by shrubbery. I suggest removing the hedge and replacing it with lower growing plants. Maybe an ornamental dwarf cherry in the middle between the windows.

I don't think you need to pave the driveway.

If the walk needs replaced then I agree that a different material such as shown by Doug would look nice.

Windows as wide as yours are not meant to have shutters.

I agree with emmarene - remove the hedge. And no shutters.

You asked about painting the fence - you mean the reddish fence on the left? Absolutely! The red-orange clashes with your house. There's no reason to call attention to the fence, is there? Because that's what the current bold color does.

I don't quite know how to describe the first impression I get from looking at your driveway/sidewalk. I'm not liking the undefined edges of the driveway. Perhaps if you paved it, it would be more in keeping with the style of your house. More formal. I'd like a bit of greenery/color right at the corner of the steps where it meets the driveway, but not too much because people tend to take the shortest distance between two points and you don't want to plant things in the way.

Damn! An existing walkway that is NOT too narrow! It is a rare find -- extinct almost -- that we hardly ever see. So lucky is this homeowner!!!

One of the beauties of the small yard is how much farther you can go for the same cash.

Paving the drive would definitely improve the overall property appearance, as it is the one major feature that looks raw, as in "under construction." I've lived with a gravel driveway for a while & grew to hate it (though not as bad as having no driveway at all!) Bits of sand and small stones were always being tracked into the house. Given the lack of room overall, I would not create a landscape planting strip between the walk and drive but run them concurrently. Instead of plants, a decorative edge to the drive (contrasting color/material) would do a nice job of distinctifying it from the walk, adding interest and an upgraded look in general. Everyone does a concrete drive as it is the default (for good reason) but this is going to sing a brighter song if the material is upgraded to something classier. Pavers would work well. We don't know what's going on with the grade, but that would definitely need to be considered. When doing a front walk, I always look to see if a bottom step can be eliminated. You might be able to kill two or three birds with one stone by raising the walk and doing less excavation for the drive (depending on what you pave it with, and get fewer steps for yourself and guests to walk up. I notice the walk, though it is beautifully wide, has some issues. If you did a paver drive, you could span over the walk, too, and dress up the whole shebang. With all new surface, you would not need to divide walk and drive.

The fence is overkill on the color.

If you make changes to walk/drive, don't bother worrying about planting specifics until the hardscape work is "set in stone." But the planting needs a redo. The engulfing, homely hedge needs to go. I prefer shrubs that are coordinated to windows in the same way that stoop and steps are coordinated to entrance doors. That leaves room for large patches of perennials and annuals (near the entrance area). We don't see a broad enough picture to know if you need a small tree somewhere.

I like the direction Doug is heading here. The walk and drive should be separate as they serve different functions within a residential landscape. A driveway, paver or not, is utility. A front walk can be a beautiful extension of the home if done properly. I’d separate the drive and walk with a hedgerow of the same evergreens or flowering shrubs. It’s not long or wide enough to mix plants and a consistent hedge will make the gap look purposed. Pick a paver/clay brick for the front walk that complements the home. Doug’s idea to leave a connecting path from the drive to the walk is a good one, although I’d push it as far towards the home as possible to try to hide it a bit from street view. If you want to visually tie the drive and walk together in some capacity, I like the idea of bordering both sides of the asphalt/concrete in 1-2 rows of the front walkway brick to dress the drive up and tone down the visual of the concrete/asphalt field. A consistent groundcover with tastefully-placed evergreens, flowering shrubs and a perennial mass or two would be perfect. Make those two entry urns shine with some beautiful annuals. A small tree off the right corner of the home is cliche, but used on nearly every designed front landscape because it (almost) always plays. Beautiful home, good luck on your project!

I agree that your walkway is nice and wide, just like it should be and is so rarely seen today.

Have you considered a permeable type driveway? It will elevate the current unpaved driveway but still give you the advantage of the water passing through the driveway to the ground below without pooling. Something like the below pic. It would serve the purpose of visually separating the driveway and the walkway plus give you all the advantages of a 'green driveway'.

Modern Landscape · More Info

"The walk and drive should be separate as they serve different functions within a residential landscape. A driveway, paver or not, is utility." The burden of proof would be on the claimant, but to my thinking this is absurd on two counts. There've got to be a gazillion actual examples of where the drive and walk happily mix and mingle. And on account of ever-tightening space, the trend is in this direction. They are both PATHS to the house (as is usually the lawn.) One serves pedestrians and one serves vehicles so they sometimes separate, but is there is nothing that would dictate this as a necessity. What does it mean that a driveway is "utility" ...? That it can't or shouldn't be just as attractive as a walk, which also happens to serve a utilitarian function ...? A hedgerow of plants separating the walk and drive will have a negative result, making both paths seem even narrower.

A different approach, but I can not tell from the pics if there is enough room.

The home, in EVERY instance, should be the main focal point. Landscape in general is intended to compliment the home, not overpower it. A driveway can be used an an aesthetic upgrade in certain instances, and we design and install many of them for that reason specifically. If you were to nix the straight walk to the public sidewalk and instead allow for access from the drive only, I could see incorporating the same pavers for both. In this particular instance, I would not go that route. I would do a full brick apron field from street to public walk, then transition to the asphalt/brick combo for the remaining run (perhaps transitioning back to a full paver field once you’ve neared the garage and are in view of the rear entertaining area). Keep the walk as is, but brick it. I still like the hedgerow separator because 1) it’ll be aesthetically pleasing and 2) its unique. As I stated previously, a driveway is utility. If passers-by are staring at your driveway and not your home, there’s a problem in the design. You can’t look at photos that show only a driveway and expect pavers to lose an aesthetic contest. It’ll never happen. The correct visual balance between home, walk, driveway and softscape is what will make this a successful project. Good luck on whatever route you choose!

No problem, see google images below. The first and last images are showing raised brick curbing as the outer border, but can be swapped for a soldier course or 2-course running bond if preferred. 4-6” curbing adds a pretty interesting vertical element if the grade allows it!

No problem John. Landscape is subjective. Yardvaark and I may disagree on this particular project but we agree on many others. Using (or hiring a pro who uses) software like @DigDoug's is a great way to get a feel for how the entire completed space will look prior to making a huge installation investment. There is not a 'wrong' answer presented in any of the above comments. Whatever route feels correct for you (and those who will be using the space) is the right answer!