I keep thinking about this. In fact it won't get out of my head! LOL... This one just came to me. If it's bendy as you say, what about: It's vertical, resting on the long side, but it's winding like a wave of thru some wooden poles (like the path that a slalom course would take. Maybe these poles could look rustic( trees maybe. So- bottom line-you'd have like a rusty frito hung up in some trees. OR: could it be the "roof" of a little pergola, maybe let some ribbons hang down from "the roof". maybe some wire whatever-you-could-find stuff that could perch on the roof (a flying pig, a huge cup and saucer so it looks like a giant was using it for a coffee table. hahahahaha (I love to amuse myself-bye-gotta-go-now. I may live to regret that I posted this, cause now you can all see what a fruity place my brain is) Please note that I restrained myself and never even mentioned the giant serpent winding itself thru the thing from front to back, up and down.......:D

apologize for the late response as i didnt realize this formum doesnt send out notifications for new replies,,,that or i just dont have the right settings for my account. i appreciate all the responses and like the corbell or trellis idea to add some dimension to a rather flat facade. also a round accent, which can be used as a roof vent would be a nice touch. to answer some of the questions: 1. yes the right side of the garage was raised to accommodate a van. i recently spoke to a garage installer and the plan was to raise the left to match the right. i do like the idea of widening the trim but this will require some modifications to the vinyl to bring in the lip. i have planned on going with a 2 panel door with square window accents on the top in white. i played around with door colors like going brown but it brought way too much attn to the garage doors. 2. i decided to hold off on the garage doors for a few months since the priority shifted towards fixing our leaking roof, which will be started in a couple weeks. the color of choice i have debating on for weeks to the point where i now drive around town looking at roofs and gutter colors/styles. we narrowed the choices down to going with a slate or charcoal since the ultimate goal is to do less w/ the red/tannish accents. i decided on a GAF timerbline charcoal color with matching 5-6" gutters or even a white gutter. still TBD on those choices. 3. windows: the brown is actually the metal frame for the window. the red is a metal trim that was part of the vinyl siding install. im considering painting the red to white...adding some interior white shutters. i just hope the brown doesnt clash too much w/ the white. wondering if painting the brown is a bad idea im terrible at photoshop(actually ms paint) but at least this gives a decent idea of how it might look. appreciate all the input... stage 1: replace roof shingles, add the circular vent trim accent stage 2: garage doors stage 3: shutters, lights, window trim, maybe the trellis or corbell stage 4(my dream) paver stones in the driveway and add brick/stone facade accents, redo the brick steps on the left and right side. this style home is typical to a certain area in the SF bay area. houses are packed together on small lots with very little to no side yard. rather ugly to say the least so im trying to do the best w/ the limitations we have.

For $100? Maybe swap out the chairs with some that are more modern but a real bargain on craigslist? The existing chairs are cool, but they tip the eating area in a distinctly un-modern direction. The table is simple enough that, if you paired it with modern chairs, that whole area would look modern. Sophie's advice is good too. Make sure you have extra flooring so your future remodel is easier.

Certainly keep the brick because the path and driveway are in the same color family. The yellow is actually very sweet with the brick. If it's to cheery for you, it can be toned down to more of a butternut. In my mind, the problem is that the roof is a cool color and the brick and such is warm. You might be able to tie them together with a neutral light grey paint if you find any flecks of grey in your brick. You don't want to tear off a roof because of the color so I would recommend foundation plantings to minimize the conflict. It can be as simple as a tidy brick-height hedge, or something more complex. A bench across the porch, and move the tree on the porch to the left side of the garage where the one side is thicker than the other.