I think you could benefit from a brighter, higher contrast front door and some uplights and pathlights leading up to the door. Try framing the front door with plant, topiaries, perhaps? This is a good example: sherwood brick home

Some colorful annuals (impatiens etc) would look good in front of the shrubs. I also agree with a higher contrast door.

I would invest in landscaping, including brick to widen the front walkway. You need a variety of foundation plantings.

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I think the mullions in all the windows would stand out painted black.

Maybe paint the front door black, as well. Or a deep stain if you want to keep the wood.

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Once those clumpy shrubs are gone lots of possibilities will open up.

Definitely lose the scallopy brick edge. The beds need to be at least 5 feet front-to-back - you've got a large lovely home and you need large, lovely landscaping to set it off. Your lollypop shrubs are way overgrown. I'd replace them.

Yardvaark is going to tell you to cut some of the lower branches of that tree on the left. :)

And Yardvaark will be right.

There is some absolutely gorgeous brick work on that house. Don't do anything to obscure it.

Congratulations on the new home! Classic Houston house. No shutters on this home and check your HOA rules to see what is permitted with your door color.

Agree you need to make the beds deeper and the walkway wider. I like the walkways with a brick border. The shrubs you have can stay, but remove the two closest to the walkway on either side. Layer your shrubs and add perennial color. I like dwarf varigated pittosporum, other variegated plants, foxtail ferns, flax, daylilies, dwarf boxwoods, agapanthus, loropetalum. Leave about 3 feet on either side of the door for seasonal color. Black or brown mulch, no red. Potted plants on either side of the door.

I forgot to say azaleas!

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Definitely no shutters on this house, which is lovely, BTW. I agree with the above posts to concentrate on the landscaping and to use potted plants beside the door. You will likely be amazed at the difference.

Such a beautiful home! There are many great ideas that can be found here

https://bit.ly/2zuZTYe. I look forward to seeing the progress!

HI -- Too much brick and it's making the house look like it's just a big block of one color . Think about having the center entrance section done in an old world warm stucco like what is seen in Tuscany . Then get some landscape designers help to give the yard more texture and interest . Perhaps consult with an Architect so they can show you how the house would look with some stucco added . It needs some personality !

Love the ideas! I never thought about widening the walkway. Awesome advice!

Congrats. Really nice house. Like the entry, including the wood door. Might want darker (perhaps black) trim around the front door rather than white.

Wouldn't want shutters.

Not a fan of protruding scallop edge brick around a planting area. Consider burying the brick flat with the top level with the ground so it can be mowed over. you could straighten the line/row in which the bricks would be placed, place the brick side by side and face all the rounded edges in the same direction.

At the appropriate time of year the shrubs could be trimmed to below window sill height.

Outlining your sidewalk w/liriope or something similar might be worth considering as that tends to soften the harshness of the edges of a concrete sidewalk and/or driveway. since your sidewalk isn't very wide, you might outline it with brick (w/tops ground level) first and then add a parallel line of brick (also w/tops ground level) to create a defined planting area.

Like the idea of planting areas around trees; however, remember not to mound dirt against the trunk as that would eventually kill the tree.

Shelley, creating a landscape is not only about what grows directly in front of the house. It's about surroundings, too ... which we can't see. Can you show your house from the same distance, but line the camera up with the front walk, and show the complete scene from left lot line to right lot line? While keeping the camera at the same spot, pivot and take 3 slightly overlapping pictures.

Shelley, it looks like you have a corner lot. Please add pictures of that side also so that it all flows.

The trees need trimming and thinning out. FYI - I use Genesis Tree Services in the Houston area.

Find a REALLY good tree service who properly prune trees. All of them could benefit from pruning and shaping, but especially the (oak?) in front of your house.

Some general guidlines:

1. widen the front walk. It looks like only for emergency utility use, not for guests & not for size of house.
2. Limb up the trees so that a view of the house can be maintained from the street.
3. The beds circling the tree trunks are vastly undersized relative to the tree size. Since grass won't grow well under them, install a uniform mass of solid groundcover below. (ferns, Liriope muscari, etc.)
4. Plant seasonal color to flank the entrance, shrubs below window and long flowering perennials around the house corners. A large shrub could go in front of the blank wall.

Thank you for taking the time to give your advice and visual! Can't wait to get started!

I agree with that landscaping is very important. I would also say that pretty window treatments would be great, too.

IF you widen the front walk, do that by outlining it rather than just adding more concrete -- you don't want your front sidewalk to look like a driveway.

Another option could be to remove and replace the current sidewalk with a curved one and/or one with spaced concrete slabs so you can have grass growing between them.

This house could also do a more formal garden entry, if you're so inclined.

We measured the sidewalk and found that it's not centered in the entryway. There are 24 inches on the left side and 18 inches on the right. That throws a bit of a curve ball.

Groveraxle, thanks for the visual! It makes it easier to imagine.

It looks like the walkway was centered on the door and not the door and side lights.