Lilyfinch, you remind me of my dad with the veggies. Those are the only 3 he will eat. When my folks had moved my dad really wanted to experiment with a veggie garden. My mom told him if he grew it, he had to eat it. When I visited that summer and saw him eating a salad I almost choked!! He had held up his end of the bargain, but only had a veggie garden for that one year!! LOL!! Your front yard is great. I agree with widening the paths. How wide are the paths now? Could you widen them enough to incorporate the lamp post into the path? You could also have them undulate a little, but still symmetrical if you want it to be a little less formal. I would even consider at the end of the path at the house flaring the path on each side out to incorporate the area in front of your house and porch. How long is the walkway? It looks long enough that you can repeat groups of perennials. There are some great single-blooming peonies that would be pretty (and no staking), especially if planted with some May-Night Salvia and Iberis. That makes a nice little spring combo. Sedums like Autumn Joy or Matrona would give some interest down the path well into fall and even winter if you don't cut them back. Also some grasses might be nice too, like Hakonechloa. I have also fallen in love with Solidago 'Golden Fleece' planted with low purple asters. Mix in a Fairy Rose and it's magical! Have you thought about shrubs at all? If you are able to widen the path and you don't think an arbor will work for you at the end, what about a dwarf alberta spruce at the entry on each side? Also there are some small spirea like Little Princess that work in a narrow border. Hypericum Hidcote may be a nice yellow that has quite a long bloom period. Mine seemed to never want to stop and hasn't gotten to be taller than about 2'. Crimson Pygmy Barberry is a great smaller shrub with a nice color. What a great area you have to play around with. Have fun!!!

I agree with the direction you're going, frida. My house is small and basically the same shape, but I have siding. I've pinned those same images for my own pergola plans. We're mid-project having poured footings last fall. We'll finish up this summer. We removed our concrete and brick stoop and will have an 8 foot deep front porch that extends to the right almost all the way to the corner. My window to the right of my front door is my kitchen. I'm looking forward to having a small table and chairs on my new front porch. Here's a terrible drawing to explain what you could do, which is what we're doing...

What about a pergola extending from the left side of the house to the second floor bump out on the right? The section above the door could have a solid roof for weather protection, while the rest is open to allow light into the window. Or you could make a gable portico over the door and extend the pergola to the left off of that. You could do one over the garage as well but that might be too much, and to me adding dimension on the left is important. Properly sized shutters would actually work quite nicely here Someday :) With the style of the new garage door that would push your house a bit toward farmhouse.

it's not a craftsman. adding a porch and stone will not make it one. It's a post-war stucco bungalow. how do you plan on getting this look, onto your home, without spending oodles of dough? What you could do is modify your home to include a porch, maybe extend the left side out front, but you're talking about a remodel. You could certainly do things to spruce it up, but how much do you want to spend? Trying to DIY this could look really bad when completed.