What garden zone do you live in? https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Can you give us a better picture of your garden bed? How deep is it, and now long?

I think your garage doors would look better if they were darker. The white makes them stand out.

What do you dislike about your front door? Style? Color?

What Partim said regarding your garden zone :)

Also, what type of styles do you like? You have a lot of options!

That section right there is about 4' deep. Then it goes down to about 2'

I know the popularity of this is split about 50/50 here, but have you considered painting your brick to match the siding (no matter if you are changing the siding or not)? This way it doesn't look like a split house. You could keep the shutter colors and any landscaping would pop even more.

The length is about 20'. I am at work. I thought I had the measurements in my phone, but I can't find them.

I am in garden zone 7. I believe. maryland.

I think it all just looks choppy. black shutters/ red door/ white garage doors/ white siding/brick on the bottom. Maybe some unity. :)

Add a wall pergola or trellis to the area over the garage

Lauren, I knew someone would say paint the brick. It would definitely bring more uniformity to the house, along with pops from shutter and landscape. Do you have any tips how to convince husbands?

I don't think the house looks choppy. Where I live, this is a classic style - brick on the bottom and siding on the second story. Looks good to me. I like the color of your brick and would never paint it. And I'm not a guy.

I like the dark front door. Not a fan of those dark garage doors. Looks odd to me.

Just an FYI, but that planting bed is not huge....far from it!! In fact, it is a bit too narrow for much permanent landscaping at even its widest point. If you want shrubs, look for compact or dwarf versions....like boxwood or small azaleas or gardenias. Otherwise just fill with some annuals for seasonal color.

Well I would get a few bids and maybe it won't be as bad as you think haha! Or a lot of people on here suggest Limewashing brick, but I'm not sure how that would look with your house and the split.

I'm in the don't-paint-the-brick-paint-the-siding-instead camp. But if you just want to deal with what you have--red brick and current siding, creating beautiful landscaping on the house side will pull the eye toward the house. (Hate that double garages are pushed forward and take up so much visual space--horrible design.) You could do (pricey) wood garage doors and add beefier pillars on the house side in the same wood finish.

Pergolas and garage door windos do soften garage doors as Beverely suggests upthread:

Lake Washington Residence · More Info

How to convince husband to paint the brick? Look for more pics like this:

If you want to start out by planting in the bed, you'll need about 5 or 6 shrubs, if you choose shrubs that will be about 3-4 feet wide when they are fully grown. I'd take your pictures and measurements to a local nursery, which will be stocked with plants that do well in your area. Be prepared to answer questions about how many hours of sun that the bed gets, which may be different for each side of the bed.

Consider staining the wood of the bed edges a dark brown. The focus should be on the plants, not on the edging material. It also looks nice to plant some low edging flowers right along the bed, that will hang over a bit. I like annual white sweet alyssum, which smells nice and also re-seeds itself every year.

I would avoid pink and red flowers. I don't think they look good with your brick. Choose white, cream, yellow, blue, purple/mauve. I'd also replace the red cushions on your chairs with a different color. It always looks great when the decor items echo the colors of your flowers.

Beverly - curious on my end because I mentioned the limewash earlier - how do you make it look good with the siding?

I was thinking about the brick painting debate today as I drove thru a section of town that features numerous houses featuring both brick and siding. Lots of them have been painted. The unified color makes the house look larger and they simply looked pretty. I didn't notice any peeling paint or other problems. So yes painted brick will need to be repainted eventually but the payoff in the now can be substsntial.

some ideas:

Got off on the tangent of Lime Wash. Frankly I see no need to limewash your brick. White, red and black is a classic color scheme if you want that.

I would add the wall trellis

Change out the light on the garage

Add some landscaping

Get a black door and storm door.

I didn't read the comments. Forgive me if this has already been mentioned. Beef up the front porch posts. Paint downspouts to match the brick so they disappear.

First things first--get that shed and the recycling bin out of sight!!! Nothing else counts as long as they are there.