@Dunn Edwards. I love the meta data info that pops up when I Google your colors. Whoever made the decision to do this should get a huge bonus this year because it's freaking brilliant - and USEFUL. I found this by accident when I was standing in a partially dry-walled reno in 110° Phoenix heat and Googled one of your colors. BAM! Everything I needed right there on the first line - on my phone. Made me so happy I almost cried. Also, if you include H/V/C with your posts, it will not be lost on the readers here. Many *get* color notations.

Thank you Dig Doug and Yardvaark! We typically plant impatiens in the window boxes and water daily a.m. and p.m. Not to take advantage of your skills but I would welcome ideas for improving the back side of the house too. I should have posted a better picture and can later today if you want. There is a large picture window to the right of the screen porch and a square brick patio to the left with a brick sidewalk along the garage wall to the driveway. Straight lines, nothing fancy. The large bush on the right side of screen porch is a Japanese lilac. I know it is large but it provides privacy which we like. Thanks again!

Roof: I would stick with the GRAY roof rather than changing to brown. Gray is much more versatile. Brick: I like your brick as is. Don't paint it. Front Door: Don't replace with a 'Craftsman' door. Your house isn't Craftsman. You can get an appropriate wood door that isn't Craftsman. Garage door: Paint to blend with the brick color or one shade darker than the brick. Best to not accent the garage door. You can remove the plastic inserts in the top garage panel so that the windows are square rather than that sunburst pattern and that will be a very nice update for your home. Shutters: Remove them. Your beautiful windows aren't designed for shutters and they clash with your exterior. Porch posts: Don't accent your posts - they aren't a feature. Have the color blend into the house so use the brick color. You have a great home! It just has a mashup of a couple of different styles now. When you finish your improvements, I would love to see how it turns out. Have fun!

Where are the pathways through the big area? I would think you would need that to do regular maintenance, or to stroll through. I saw a YouTube or similar where the homeowners killed off the grass to install xeric, native plants, EXCEPT for the planned pathways. I guess that could still be a problem , as a pre- existing grass species might not survive in the new water- less zone. Anyway the point was that they could be mowed, but in a fraction of the time. Perhaps you have got pathways in there that don’t show up in this photo - maybe stepping stones with shorter plants around and between them.