>I love the .75 acres and our big back yard<

Me being like-minded and with that wide street right there if it were mine the first thing I would do is put up a fence. As in 6 ft. of solid wood fence. Heck, a concrete wall would be even better, because it would offer some noise reduction and not contain any wood that will deteriorate in time.

Instead of trying to present the house to the street. A house with a front that you do not think is particularly attractive anyway.

It's not as big as it looks... its a typical neighborhood street.

this is super interesting! What is wrong with the walks and what way would you arrange walkways?

Not a pro - but if it were me, I would remove the walkway from the street to the secondary door. A walkway from the driveway to the secondary door would be sufficient, I think.

I also think you need some landscaping to soften the front. The brick is not offensive to me at all but the lack of landscaping doesn't do it any favors. I'm sure someone will come along with advice on that front.

thank you Gigi! I am definitely thinking many troubles will be eased by a good landscape plan... just don't know where to start on this DIY. Thanks for the secondary door walkway note!

You are welcome, Aubree! Give the outside a little bit of love and I think you will love it as much as the inside.

I was also considering adding pillars to the overhangs for both porches... would it look dumb?

The walkway looks like tributaries flowing into one stream. The walkway to the front door should go from the front walk to the front steps more or less in a straight path. The walkway to the side door from the sidewalk should be removed completely. Instead there should be a path from the side steps to the driveway. Then you can plant a variety of small shrubs along the foundation of the front porch and on either side of the steps. Continue along the foundation under the "off-centered" window. To the left of that window in the yard (about half way from the house and the sidewalk) plant an ornamental tree. You can also do a planting at the start of the front walk to further emphasize that entry. I would paint the side door brown like the garage and the front door a pretty earthy green.

Columns might not be a bad option - if they aren't overpowering...but then again, I'm no expert. Some one with some knowledge (and Photoshop) might be able to help you out.

Do you have any restrictions on what you can do with your yard? (HOA or city) For instance, is there a requirement that your lot has to have a certain amount of grass? And are you allowed to put in front yard fences?

Your first comment indicated that you'd like more of a cottage garden feel. Given that you said that you have a nice-sized back yard already, it seems like you could go grass-free out front and turn the whole thing into a cottage garden (complete with flowers poking out from a white picket fence.) Some taller perennials would detract from what you see as the negatives of your facade. Plus, if you turned the whole thing into a cottage garden, the walkways wouldn't stand out as much as they do now. It would be quite charming to have multiple paths through the flower beds.

I agree that the pictures don't really show us all what you find so repulsive about the brick. But of course, if it repulses you then it's a problem. I love painted brick houses and could definitely see your house looking really quite sweet and charming if you painted it something like a soft butter yellow with white trim.

Thanks Christine! That's not a bad idea to get rid of the grass entirely. Thankfully, I am HOA free. I'll check on city ordinances, but I don't think they have a requirement.

I think your house is very cute. My first thought was also to fix the sidewalks until I read that the "walkways have to stay." If the sidewalk from the street to the secondary door is removed, you'll have more space for a nice bed that partially screens the second door from the street, putting focus on the main door.

I think the secondary door should be painted the same as the garage door, something that blends back into the brick. The main front door should be an eye catching color that you like; lemon yellow? Cobalt blue?

I am now so envious of your HOA-free options. It would be a decent amount of work to transform the front yard to entirely flower beds, but it's so nice to have that option!

The fall is a great time to create new flower beds though. I don't like spraying to kill the grass so I put down cardboard in the fall and cover it with soil and mulch (or sometimes just mulch.) The grass dies and by spring you can just dig through the cardboard and plant what you want.

some ideas:

"What is wrong with the walks and what way would you arrange walkways?"

As with most walks, they're too narrow. It's redundant to have the left walk be a mere 10' from drive but going essentially to the same place. The walk at the right is far enough from the drive that it ought to go straight to the street. There is probably not much need to connect the two walks but if there is, they ought to connect nearer the house, keeping far enough away from the house as to allow for proper foundation planting. (Such a walk would be the outside edge of the foundation bed.) I widened the drive a bit because it doesn't seem wide enough to contain the walkway function as well. A small tree could go off of the front left corner of garage. The larger the tree, the farther away from the home it ought to be. The plants are not anything specific. You'd find plants capable of being those shapes and sizes and having the details, character and qualities that appeal to you.

In the preceding representation now two posts back the formality of the matching pairs of plants, central walk and centered bird bath does not jibe with the informality of the flowing bed shape to the right. Or the asymmetry of the house facade. Also the bird bath is not in scale with the square footage of the blank wall behind it, thus appears dinky in front of it. Finally grasses and other herbaceous plants do not have the visual weight to be used as corner or end points in a bed - beds filled with shrubs except for grasses at corners is backwards. The shrubs - preferably evergreen - should be at the corners, with the perennials etc. in the middle. Deciduous shrubs can be used to transition between the heaviness of evergreen shrubs and the lightness of non-woody plants.

Embothrium - I'd love to see a drawing of your vision for this landscape.

It may be important to consider that the comments made above re: symmetry and plant selection and layout are just opinions based on personal aesthetics. There are no formal landscape design 'rules' or principles that would necessarily outline or document those concepts.

I guess I don't share your opinions on landscape design E. Rather than criticize my effort to help the OP, it would be best if you created your own plan.

If the door on the left is just a secondary entrance (rather than the entrance to a separate unit in the same building) I think that door needs to be ‘played down’ by painting it a darker color that blends into the brick - plus it’s odd that the stairs there seem wider than the ones for the other door.... If the building is one unit with the primary door on the right, I think there does need to be a path that runs parallel to the house from the driveway so people can access the main front door from the driveway. The path should, of course, be far enough away from the house to provide adequate space for a foundation planting bed. I agree that the only path to the street should be the one from the main front door and the other, diagonal, path removed to make a nice rectangle out of the lawn on that side - a very peaceful effect. I like the look of the front porch with a railing so I would do that for both appearance and safety.

Make the walkway to your front door straight to the sidewalk. The way it is now, it visually looks like the door with the wreath is the secondary doot. Make the other walkway go to the driveway. Flank the one to the door with low-growing plants. Hostas are good if you have shade, lavender for sun.

You fix the off-center window by putting something taller under it. Or a climber on the trellis (which should cover up some of the brick you don't like). I had a Camellia close to the house years ago. But a climbing rose would be nice, too. You'd need to measure.

You want to avoid symmetrical designs, like Dig Doug gave you. That will draw attention to the lack of symmetry in the window. I'm not good with photoshop, so I'm not going to draw anything up.

Another option is to put large house numbers in the space next to the window. If you do this before fixing the walkways, you're just putting another indicator that the wrong door is the right one. But if the right door was the only one with a path to the sidewalk and emphasized with flanking planting, the number placement would be okay.

You can also put a larger tree out closer to the sidewalk, which would cover the wider spot next to the window. For example, if you didn't take our advice on the walkways, and you planted something like a weeping cherry in the V between the two walkways, most views of your house would have the off-centeredness not noticeable.

A cottagey garden always looks great and makes any house look better.

Rose Garden · More Info

I like the brick. The thing I've noticed about homes and homeowners is that sometimes they just focus on something and hate it. If it's hard to change, just learn to like it. All houses have their plus points and their negatives. Focus on what you love about your house, not what your don't like.

My take is aging walkways, no garden or foundation plantings, too much exposed concrete, and a lawn that could use some help are the areas preventing your house from looking lovely.

Here's a house with a off-center window balanced by a columnar tree

DESCO | front elevation · More Info

In addition to making the secondary door the same color as the garage door, I’d change the door. Right now to me your house looks like a duplex rather than a single family home. Agree with the main door needing the walkway right to the street. And the added wrought iron railing by Dig Doug is a great idea.

I really dislike the duplex look. Am I the only one who considered hiding that entrance?

It would still need landscaping and a new path.

I'd paint the second door the color of the roof.

following

I like the idea of getting rid of all those walkways from the street and keep one from the garage like emmarene posted, but I would avoid putting a fence in front of the door. Nice evergreen spreading yew bush would be better. Plant some 4-5ft at maturity bushes ( so you do not have to prune them too often - some cultivars of hydrangeas, weigelas, ninebarks ) close to the the house and something lower -perennials or lower grasses - closer to street. I am not big fan of lawns, so beware. You can consider some shade tree in front of the house closer to the driveway if you are up to it.

Make sure to chose carefully when you pick up the tree. Very tricky. I love magnolias, but they would not be appropriate here. May be medium-sized full sun Japanese maple?

Nothing will improve the curb appeal greater than a well-planned and designed entry. Right now all you have is confusion as to which is the proper entry door and a mass of ill-planned walkways jumbling up the front and only compounding the confusion. Comments above about de-emphasizing the secondary doorway and focusing on the primary door and porch/entry are very much on point. And that will also involve removing, reconfiguring and enlarging the walkway and/or other access points.

ALL landscaping is labor intensive unless you hire it done :-) But removing the excessive walkways and redoing them is very DIY-able. However it would be to your benefit to have a professional designer help you with this to develop the most efficient design plan. And to make other appropriate landscaping suggestions.