That looks like a nice place to live. Congratulations on your first home! Curb appeal is subjective but when I moved back to my home in 2005 I wanted to sustain pollinators (bees, butterflies, hummingbirds) since they're being decimated by chemicals. No, I'm not an activist; I just love seeing them in my garden pollinating my plants. What is your USDA Hardiness Zone? I'm in Z6a southern New England which was a huge help when I started planning my garden beds. Wish I could post before/after pictures but I'm cell-phone challenged. When I moved here I Googled my ZIP code so I knew I was in USDA Z6a. That defined what perennials would grow in my slightly acidic sandy loam. I also knew that my parents practiced organic gardening 40 years before I moved back home. I decided "curb appeal" and sustaining pollinators weren't mutually exclusive so I designed a number of full/part sun as well as full/part shade beds and planted perennials that would (a) add curb appeal; and (b) sustain pollinators. Here's what I planted: Full/part sun: Russian sage, wandflower, butterfly bush, beardtongue, lavender, Shasta daisy, false indigo, ladybells, balloon flower, perennial geranium, stoke's aster, daylily, coneflower, cushion spurge, blanket flower and other sun lovers. Full/part shade: hosta, brunnera/Siberian bugloss, columbine, Japanese sedge, black snakeroot, Lenten roses, coral bells, astilbe, toad lilies. Get a picture in your mind what you'd like others to see when they view your garden. No, I didn't do that; I knew what I wanted to see each day when I pulled in the driveway after work. It took a lot of effort but now I'm happy with what I see whenever I come home from the library. TIP 1: don't just spread mulch; spread recycled cardboard with mulch on top to suppress weeds. Worms LOVE cardboard. Happy worms = worm poop = free fertilizer. Tip 2: My folks planted beds up close to the road. I moved all my garden beds down close to the house (where the hose would reach). Tip 3: I asked my neighbor to pop the evergreen shrubs out in front of my house so I could plant other things. He came with his tractor and I never saw them again.

I would recommend that you frame the door with two taller pots, like these in the 30" height (https://www.potsplantersandmore.com/collections/outdoor-planters/products/corry-cylinder-indoor-and-outdoor-vase-planter?variant=14015347078) in a saturated color; depending on your tastes something like the cobalt, key lime, or matador red. In the area that is currently bark, I would recommend using round up on a cooler day (roundup does not work if it is too hot, aim for 85 degrees or below) to get rid of the oxalis. I would then recommend planting 3 Skywalker or Graham Blandy Boxwoods along that wall to bring some evergreen color up the house. Around the base of them, I would plant some Ice Dance Carex which is variegated and will bring some light to the area. Two other small things that could help update that area would be to use edgers that do not have a scalloped edge. Having edgers that only rise about 1-1.5" out of the ground with a flat top will give a more contemporary look. The other update, which would need approval and collaboration with your neighbor, would be to decide on a universal color for the fence. A neutral blue-grey color helps move the eye up into the skyline, making your space appear larger.

Dennis - Unless I missed it, you didn't say what direction the front of your house faces, and how much sun it got, that is, if it's sun is obstruction by tall buildings on the other side of the street. The other very, very important thing for you to think about, of which other Houzzers might not be aware is that Southern California goes through extreme water shortages pretty much every single year, and many areas are told to not water their lawn or do it only minimally for parts of the year. That should really inform how you think about landscaping. Admittedly, I do understand if you despise cacti and other succulents. But you might want to seriously think about eschewing live grass in favor of artificial turf. There are marvelous artificial turfs now that would fool anyone, certainly from standing height, and you obviously don't need to water it and think of all the $$ you save in gardener's fees, and none of those those pesky varmints rolling up the sod, either.! You can can still have specifically carved out flower beds, and trees and bushes with planned irrigation for those specific areas. Your area abounds with very experienced landscape architects. You want someone who has an artistic eye, and who knows hardscape and who is very familiar with the plants that do well in your area, and is familiar with the exigencies of life in SoCal and in your microclimate and can speak frankly with you about what you want to get out of your garden and how much work you are willing to put in to it. Do you sit outdoors in the front or the back? Do you want fragrant flowers on a trellis where you sit there or will a fragrance annoy the heck out of you? Will you sit outside in the morning or night, so do you need flowers that bloom in the am or bloom in the evening with colors that will be seen sell in twilight and at night? Do you want an herb garden for cooking? Do you want vegetables? Do you want several rose bushes so you can fill your house with roses, or other flowers so you can always have bouquets? Of course Dig Doug's designs look fantabulous as always, but note that his designs show significant hardscape changes to the front of the house. You might want to think about saving up some money for the hardscape work. If you get rid of the grass and put in artificial turf, you will end up saving a fortune of money on your water bill that you can put toward hardscape. If you have never owned a house before, you would not believe how much the water bill will be, and when you add in watering the lawn, holy moly!

I do not like shutters with wide window groups, because they are obviously fake. I would remove them and paint the trim around the windows as well as on the corners of the house and the fascia at the edge of the roof. Below is a home with three exterior colors that accent the lines of the house. The contrast between light, medium and dark tones adds drama. The rest of your curb appeal can come from landscaping. Start by adding a concrete path from the front entry to the driveway. If you can't do a solid concrete walk buy the largest paving stones (usually 18"x18") and set them between the entry and the driveway. This will allow you to make a 36" wide path that is easy to walk on, and looks good. Here is one simple style. It looks like there is already a planting bed between the entry and the driveway. Fill it with plants that stay green through winter, but be careful to choose shrubs that stay small. Dwarf only means smaller than the species, so check the expected mature height before you buy. Be sure to place all plants far enough away from the house and walkways that they don't crowd. If a plant is expected to grow 4' wide, plant it 2' from the house or path. Fill in around them with perennials or annuals to cover bare ground and provide seasonal color. The bed on the side of the garage is narrow and therefore best suited to small upright plants such as phlox, veronica or daylily. If you want a shade tree make sure to avoid underground utilities when you dig. Don't plant a tree or any large shrub between the front door and the street. Don't create a mulch volcano around new trees. If your soil is heavy, deep mulch can lead to fungal disease at the base of the trunk. This applies to shrubs as well. Mulch is supposed to be temporary just to cover bare ground. You can let the lawn grow up to the tree.