I think your choice 1 is probably the best for the ranch style house. While I love the more carriage style of choice 2 and 3, the vertical lines might compete with the horizontal lines of your brick. Plus, I don't see any other arched areas like there were in choice 3 so I'm not sure it fits the style of your house. One thing I noted is that your current garage doors have windows. Are you going to put windows in the new? We used to have NO windows but now we DO and it's a night and day difference. They let in so much light. If you go windowless, you might really miss them.

I think that solving the main problems is going to boil down to two things: the walk; and the making the entrance visible. The walk should definitely be wider - 5' could be a goal, maybe wider near the stoop - and then it should make a better connection with the drive. I don't think this means to necessarily cut across the lawn with it. Given that the yard is small, you could widen the drive a bit with whatever the walk material is, continue on by widening the city sidewalk with the same material, and then turn the corner with the walk, heading to the entrance ... in effect bordering the yard with a "U"-shape "invitation" that extends from the drive to the entrance. (The portions adjacent drive and city walk would not be the same width as the main walk to the entrance. They would be like decorative borders.) When it comes to the portion of walk that heads toward the entrance, I think it would be beneficial to pull it away from the neighbor's drive and incorporate and "S"-curve into it. That way, room for a SMALL tree could be created between the walk and neighbor's drive. It would also have the benefit of making it look like it belongs to your property without any question. Note how entrances are typically clearly marked by some type of enlarged, often raised, paved area, and a roofed covering that offers shelter from the elements. I think you need to create such a structure over the walk, in the front yard, near to the house. It would be the obvious first "entrance" that people reach when approaching the house. But after they've reached it there would be no question about where they would continue to in order to reach the actual house entrance. The structure could be a very nice arbor, or it could be more architectural in nature (such as with brick columns and an actual roof.) BTW, I don't think there's the first thing wrong with your yellow brick. Maybe you're bored of it and that is the driving force behind staining it. But I think it would be a mistake, or highly inefficient at the least, to attempt to change it to another color. If the brick was flat out ugly I'd be all for it. But it's not. You might end up creating, after spending a lot of money and effort, something that is not near as nice. If you could replace the top panel of the garage door with one that has windows all the way across, that would resolve the boring quality of the existing door. There seem to be two main approaches to planting: smother the house with hedges; and smother the house with a variety of all kinds of plants strewn in a randomish fashion. You might consider "matching" shrubs to windows (like steps would be "matched" to a door) as the main shrubs of the landscape scheme. Perennials and annuals can be fit around them in some artistic scheme, keeping it simple preferably. I would plan on keeping shrubs below the window sill height. I would hunt for a spot for another small tree at the right side of the house. (We can't see that area.)

Google "shutter colors for red brick house" and you'll see a lot of nice suggestions. I like the ones that show pale grey-blues or pale bluish-greens. I do think that red brick actually leans toward terra cotta, and red doors kind of clash with the brick. I could see the pale blues on both your shutters and door. I think I'd remove the shutters on the main window because being so close to the door, there actually might be too much color.

Snap a photo on a sunny day then use the Sherwin Williams ColorSnap app to play with the colors. I would select a tone slightly darker than your mortar for the garage door and a color slightly darker than your darkest brick for the front door. I would then on the garage door install magnetic faux hinges and windows; this will add detail to the door, like the below house. I know they can be found on Amazon, not sure where else. Before: After: