Like Yardvaark, I would widen the walk to 4-5’ wide and use the rock mulch or pavers in the area to the right of the walk with pots of shade tolerant plants for color, though you will need to water the pots. The overhang will make this dry enough that weeds in the rock shouldn’t be much of an issue. The foot isn’t wide enough for in ground plants, especially under the roof overhang. Widening the walk will keep the pots from making the space feel crowded. In planted beds I would use shredded bark mulch instead of rock. Bark mulch is better for the plants, and rock mulch will eventually get weeds from seeds that blow in, and it is far more difficult to remove weeds from rock mulch, especially if there is weed fabric which is also hard on the plants. I think the narrow holly emphasizes the narrowness of the spots to either side of the garage, and would choose a more rounded form that stays shorter than about 3’ so that it isn’t interfering with the light. You are correct that the Japanese maple isn’t well placed. I like Yardvaark‘s sketch with trees off both front corners to frame the house, and I think the maple is too small for that spot and would choose ornamental trees or tree form shrubs that are larger than the maple. What is currently at the left corner appear to either be too small or too close to the house to allow room for growth. Is there a back yard spot where you would have a good view of the maple? I would make the front bed deep enough for more than a single row of plants, such as some naturally low shrubs in back that won’t impinge on the windows and an evergreen groundcover with spring bulbs and perhaps one kind of perennial in a clump toward the walkway. At least something at the front of the house besides the groundcover should be evergreen.

Lovely house! I think you already have a nice established front foundation start. I might try adding some colorful annuals in the front of the beds for color and potted tall topiaries or boxwoods flanking the front door. Would you consider replanting a small tree in the spot where you lost one? For the side a mix of box woods and rhododendrons might be nice and I like the idea of using old fashion/ traditional plantings with your house.

The first thing you need to do is reconfigure that walkway. The landing at the base of the steps is skimpy and awkward, demanding an immediate left turn. And the walkway itself is far too narrow. Should be at least 4' wide....5' is even better. Once a proper walkway is defined and sited, you can/should increase the width of the planting beds, especially on the walkway side, to accomodate better plantings. Anything you do now afa the plantings are concerned will have to be redone or possibly replaced once the walkway is restructured so save your time, effort and $$ and address that before you do anything else. Moving, adding or replacing shrubs/trees now is just applying a bandaid to a poor design situation.

I've noticed that whatever size is printed on the tag or is claimed on the Internet, is about half of the real final size. In their desire to see quick results people are prone to getting fast growing plants that soon get out of bounds. I think it's better not to rush it as time seems to pass quickly as soon as one focusing on other things. With water and fertilizer I find most plants to grow reasonably fast. There are always exceptions but as a general rule, they do.