Redo some hardscape before replanting. The steps and the landing at the bottom should be the width of the front door and sidelights. The paths should be wide enough for two people to walk abreast.

Nice house! With the low windows and the low front porch, keep plantings in front of the porch below window sill height. You can use taller plants to frame the porch and house. As long as the spruce is there it is tough to make suggestions for that area to the right since we really can’t see that part of the building. Is that a garage or part of the house?

Hello NHBabs and thank you for your great suggestions. That is a garage to the right.

The house is nicely proportioned and the color is fine. I notice the pic is taken in early spring before everything has leafed out. You should wait a bit to figure out what shrubs you have. They might be really nice. There are shrubs that always look a little ratty in the spring. There are shrubs that just need a good pruning. Many shrubs can be successfully transplanted, so the right shrub in the wrong place can be fixed. If there are perennial beds, you probably want a year to figure out what everything is. In general, I think a year is good to identify everything you have.

It looks to me like you have some trees that are too big and too close to your house. You can always chop off some branches and see how that works before you chop the tree down. On the other hand, you can judge better than we can from a pic and my take from the pic is to get out the chainsaw.

PS, I wouldn't change your house details. It's nice.

Since the seller is a gardener like you, ask her to give you a walkaround while you take notes about what is there and how she's been handling composting, fertilizing, and pruning. Also ask about hidden bulbs that will pop up later. An hour spent in pleasant conversation will make an easy (and happy) transition for both of you. Some gardeners spend the first year with some pruning, improving the soil with a lot of compost, and planting annuals from six-packs to see how the sun hits various parts of the lot. The second year is a good year to implement a new landscaping plan, specifically, planting trees.

I posted yesterday but apparently it didn't take. It was while Houzz was messing with their site. Mainly, I was pleading for better pictures ... the full, wide view. If you'd place the camera in line with the center of the house (standing on the walk) and be the same distance from the house as the small tree (in the circle), then take a series of slightly overlapping pictures that pan a full 180* -- from far left to far right ... such that we could see the fronts of the neighboring houses in the first and last pictures, then we would have something to work with.

From the picture that we do have, it's apparent that the steps and walk is seriously underwhelming for this house. That should be figured out first.

Landscaping is the biggest issue. If you can post a straight on shot of the house (versus at an angle) there are professional landscapers on here that’s will give you several ideas in which to present to a landscaper. And by the way, fall is the best time to plant in your zone.

Also Yardvaark Also I’m having problems with posts getting cut off or deleted on Houzz too! Also, My pic wouldn’t load to this post until I attempted it multiple times

I am not a fan of plants closely flanking walkways since in wet weather they tend to bend out onto the walk. In particular with your narrow walkways it would mean getting wet.

I like the idea of finding out what is there prior to ripping everything out.

Right I know what you mean. I was referring to boxwoods flanking both sides of the house - vs. the walkway - with hydrangeas behind in the middle.

Any thoughts about the facade? We were thinking of a more shingle look?

The facade is pretty busy and shingles would just increase the effect. Is it brick below and other up top? I'm not crazy about the vertical lines on the upper siding and might change that, but not to shingles. I'd remove the faux shutters and see how it looks. They are especially out of place on the big windows downstairs and just make things more busy. Larger lantern lights would be a good and easy thing to do right away. Since gardening is your thing, let the landscaping steal the show. I agree the steps and walk need to be widened. You might go with another material than concrete for those to add interest; some kind of slate or stone would be pretty. What is the surface of the porch? It would be a bigger project but maybe worth the trouble/expense.

Thank you for your suggestions. The top is the siding - which I don’t care for either - and the bottom brick. The rest of the house is solid (painted) brick. We don’t care for the color either. The front door is red. We have been thinking of everyone’s suggestion of a wider (stone or slate) walkway. The porch is cement. What siding treatment would be better? And how about thickening the pillars?

Also, those are gutter lines running straight down the front of the siding into the roof. I really want to change that.

Got my hands on a few more photos

Actually the seller may also know about microclimates in the yard. I have them at my house on my little bit of land, 1.75 acres and 7 acres of water. LOL. Next question if you haven’t posted, what planting zone are you in and what colors do you like?

Now we can confirm that the shutters on the ground floor need to go. The ones flanking the door, especially. When you remove the shutters up top, you should try to have the downspouts moved to flank the dormers so as to be better hidden. I can't tell if there are muntins in the upper windows; they would be expected in this style of home.

bellburgmaggie I am in zone 6. The property is about 1/2 an acre. I know what you mean about microzones - even the side of a bed near a brick wall that gets sun can be vastly different that a north facing bed. Good suggestion. Your lot sounds lovely! The house is a green color that probably shows a bit better in the first picture. The second pics make the color a little lighter. I think I'd like to consider a tan or griege/taupe. White is classic too and I like that color. A grey perhaps but where I live we have a lot of grey skies in the winter so I think I'd prefer a little warmer tone. Thanks!

decoenthusiaste thanks again for the helpful advice. Would you have an opinion about paint colors?

A wider view photo. Unfortunately, the beautiful maple in the front on the left became diseased and could not be saved. The small one in the top photo of this post is the replacement replanted by the former home owner.