Congratulations on the house. Wonderful tree. I'd start with a plan that emphasizes the tree and lays out other structure. Since you mentioned a fence... maybe a gate or trellis passage where the walkway dies off? Drop in some stepping stones between there and the road. Just to make the walkway ending like that be more sensible. I've seen it where there is just a bit of fence either side of the entry gate/trellis, but that partial fence relates to fencing on the side or in back. With back/side fence, tree, walkway and gate/trellis as the structure, coax grass along and plan out a few beds. Just a few to start. (We just pick a spot and lay a tarp down untill the grass dies off). Then dig in. Flats of annuals drop steeply in price partway into summer and will last a long time where you are. Snap up perrenials and other plantings when you can - ask friends and family if they need anything dug up and divided. Your tree deserves a wide circle of mulch (less grass to tend and makes the tree happy and healthy.) Our town has free mulch at the 'recycling center' aka the dump. I like someone's earlier idea of continuing the walkway around to the driveway too though.... hmmm. You may find it easier to tackle removing part of that 'walk to nowhere' than trying to work with it. A walk, even gravel, curving by the tree could be very nice.

Thanks for all the comments, this is great. It looks like the garage door is still solid and can be scraped and painted, so I will likely look at doing that instead of replacement and try to save it from the landfill, it's just starting to get rough cosmetically. I agree, the next garage door would likely be better with windows. I will post some photos of the porch concrete issue and the well pump head for suggestions. I wonder about tiling the concrete step or doing some sort of stamped concrete. I also wonder how that would stage -- do it before or after the post work?? -- Thanks again!

Congratulations on your new home! What a wonderful house and garden situation you have to work with. Make a path, with irregular/natural stone steps along the left side of the photo, behind the tree, so that that slope serves a purpose for you. Add some evergreens along the wall, some that have interesting bones, like a shaped pine, or an intriguing shape, like espaliered camellia. [Note! As it is unknown which direction the house is facing, and in what part of the country, it's not possible to suggest plants— plant selection really depends very much on that, as well as how much sun/wind/shade/water a specific area of your garden receives] You could replace all or much of the lawn with an ornamental perennial with good texture, for example Carex pensylvanica, which looks a lot like grass but is much less maintenance and has a great texture. Other soft ornamental grasses and perennials would frame the stone walk to the front door, interspersed with evergreens for structure. On the right side, in planters on the balcony, you could add one type of ornamental grass, or a soft perennial (lavender with artemisia 'Silver Mound' and stachys or a dwarf white-flowering echinacea. If it is sunny and you like the idea of growing fruits, veggies and herbs, then you could dress the base of the porch/balcony with espalier fruit trees. An area of walkable lawn could be framed by native grasses and perennials for a natural, informal, relaxing feel, and you could tuck raised beds in the planting beds for growing basil, rosemary, tomatoes, squash, eggplant, sage, peppers--that kind of thing. Adding well-placed and planted boulders to this garden would make sense with the terrain and the house.

Nice home. House has a bit of a modern vibe to it. Not really a fan of pink for any part of the exterior of a home -- but that's a personal preference. I'd definitely stain the pink stone a darker color. Is your roof gray? If so, a dark gray would be worth considering or pick the lightest color from within your red brick. (Not usually a fan of painting brick or stone, but in this case, I'd likely make an exception. ) You've clearly expended time/effort/energy/$ on your landscaping and it looks really good. From the angle of the pic you've included, your front yard and porch appear to be blocked off. from access via the driveway. If you want the entry to feel welcoming to guests, you m ight consider how you might draw attention to the entrance/path to access your porch from your driveway... if there is a path; if not, you might want to create a path -- or make an existing one a bit more obvious. You might consider adding a post with a solar light atop it beside that path. As your spruce tree grows, it may well provide more shade than many of the plants you have like/need. I like trees in my yard and the shade they can provide my home, especially during the hot summer, but adding one too close to the foundation has the potential for eventually giving you some trouble. Do keep that in mind if you're making any changes to the landscaping or even to the house itself, such as if you're considering covering a walkway by extending your front porch roof as a flat roof (4'-6' deep) over the walkway to the garage. You might consider a white portico (about 18" deep) above the garage door supported by brackets on each side of the garage door, wide enough so you could have the option of adding a hanging basket with flowers that bloom from each corner as the spruce provides more shade than flowering plants might like. A gate ( perhaps with a portico above it continuing from above the garage) could "hide" utility items on the right side of the garage -- the area doesn't look particularly bad as is but are just more obvious (by comparison) because the front yard landscaping looks so very good.