Please add photo of front showing the front door. Do guests park in your driveway, so that's the most convenient entrance when they do?

The main/formal entrance is on the right side of the house. There is an old staircase that you can barely make out in the photo. Guests park in front of our garage. The picture above is what you see when you walk or drive up to our house. We only enter through our garage and do not/will not use current main entrance. It is not practical.

ptreckel this home was built with an idea that people retreat into their private garages, formally entertaining occasionally. The neighborhood has grown up around it and we are a busy, very social family who like having neighbors pop in and will not walk nearly the length of our house to enter our home. Additionally, we do not park in our garage and, according to neighbors, no one who has lived here has parked more than one car in the garage. Of course, our intention is to enhance our home, not muddle it. I get your point about the landscaping making a difference and respecting the period of the house and thank you for that.

Thanks for photos. The house design takes advantage of its siting on the hill. I agree with the architect about adding a new entrance next to the garage. This would dramatically improve your own experience and that of your guests when entering the house. The most important entrance is your everyday entrance. Converting one of the garage bays would always look like a budget-driven afterthought.

In the meantime, a couple suggestions for when it warms up. Add brighter lighting, perhaps motion activated, along the current dark staircase. Paint the louvered area (or go whole hog and paint the garage interior the same off white or white color as your interior or exterior trim.

Second suggestion is to trim back the shrubs on either side of the infrequently used front steps and path: the shrub branches should end a foot away from the edge of the walkway. Closer than that feels uncomfortable, an open path feels more welcoming to anyone who heads up that way. When shrubs, small trees, and bulbs bloom in spring, you can decide on some judicious pruning to renovate the existing landscaping.