Hi, I don't know what zone you are in for planting. How do you want to use the front yard? Do you need a sitting area? Do you want to cut back on mowing the lawn? What are your summers like? Do you get water restrictions because of heat/sun and little rain? It's hard to determine what to do. Personally I always like a sitting area. I use a garden hose to lay out a garden bed design before I dig and to see a true visual of what I want. I also use MS Paint program and start with a basic layout of the house, front yard to the curb. Or you can use a pencil and paper. My old house I had a similar front yard. I made a sitting area between the house and curb in a curved pattern to soften the look. I started small and the garden grew around me. You can shape the area for sitting first. If you want to leave grass underfoot where you sit, plant on digging out about 2 feet of grass completely. To save your back in the garden area you can outline that with the hose again and cut out a 2 foot outline. Instead of digging out all that grass you can either put down cardboard with topsoil and peatmoss mixed on top a good foot or so or you can take the grass on the inside, cut it into manageable sizes and flip the grass upsidedown and then put topsoil on top. The grass will die. I grew tall plants next to my sitting area - purple coneflower, cosmos (grows fast if seeds scattered early spring). If you have neighbours who have perennial gardens and you get on well, ask if they are splitting any plants in the spring and would they mind if you could have some - if you don't have plants, you can offer some garden help in exchange. Most gardeners love to share plants. In the middle height in the middle of the bed I'd plant a couple of limegreen low growing shrubs (odd numbers for like 3, 5, 7 work well for viewing). In the middle you can grow lavender, Seed calendula (once it finishes flower and before it goes to seed, deadhead for more flowers and save the seeds in the fall for next year....same with cosmos seeds). Finally around the edges of the garden I would plant some annuals for instant colour. In the fall start planting bulbs like daffodils, tulips, crocus etc for next spring. Start the garden not too wide and build on it every year. Don't forget to balance the front yard by adding some garden on the other side. It's really all about what you want to use the front yard for and if you are planning to remove the lawn over a period of time for less mowing. Gardens help collect rain from filling the sewers and they invite more birds, chipmunks, squirrels into your yard for entertainment. Those are some of my thoughts, I hope it helps. Cheers, Peggy

Just a few basic ideas for beds ... I can’t do architecture, hopefully someone else will. You said English garden and window boxes, so I tried to create that (my app choices are very limited). The first couple are more elaborate, but things you could do over time. I know walls/walks/borders can be pricey, but I’ve had good luck in the past finding free/cheap materials on my local Craigslist and other buy/sell pages (such as Facebook Marketplace). We once got a 3-horse stock trailer full of beautiful stone, from a stone yard going out of business and wanting it all gone. :) These are just very general ideas, as I don’t know your growing conditions. I’d definitely try to find inexpensive stepping stones or pavers to have a walkway beyond your step. Click to enlarge.

Cute house! Capes are one of my favorite styles. Unless you plan on sitting on a porch out front, I'd spend my money on a landscaping plan. If you take a picture of your house to a good nursery, they can help you work up a plan. Some will do it for free if you buy plants from them, some will charge a small fee to come out and help you put together a plan that you can work on over time. You could stain the stairs and railing with a semi-transparent wood stain to something closer to the roof color. I don't care for a storm door since they cover up so much of the front door so I would avoid it if you don't have to have one. If you really want one, do a full lite storm door that's painted the same color as the front door. I tried on some front door colors for you.

Adding a porch, stoop or entry should help relieve the flatness of the front facade. The roof looks like it has some wear on it. So, would suggest you replace if in your budget. Painted brick is very popular these days but keep in mind, once painted, the brick can't be unpainted. Landscaping would certainly help also. Good luck!