I don't think the third picture (slightly lighter finish on beams) will look dated. Your ceiling is not flat, so it's going to be hard to ignore. I'd play it up and make a statement, as long as it doesn't overwhelm your space. I prefer the larger spaces in between beams and the ceiling finish (stucco?) in the third picture. The first picture would not look very French country, IMHO. Have fun with the space and if you've always loved French country (I have) I don't think you'll get tired of it...so it won't seem dated to you. Just stay with classic details and don't over do...as they say on the kitchen forum, one to three roosters, not ten :)

Your house is nice looking. It does need better landscaping. More on that later. As viewed from the street your roof is prominent. That means you can't go cheap on roofing. What you have now is not attractive. I don't know how many more years it will last but when it needs replaced I suggest architectural shingles in a darker shade.It will make a big difference. At that time you could replace the gutters on the front. They just don't look right. If you think you might make changes to the roof line that would be the time to do it. Actually I do not suggest making changes of that sort unless done for a functional reason. It is not a cost with good return on investment. Looking at your stoop I have to wonder how risky it is to change the bulb in the outdoor light. It needs to be wider as mentioned above. A path to the door would be very appealing. It looks like you live in a semi rural area with no sidewalks. How often would the path be used? You will have to decide if it is worth spending the money. I would make an enlarged stoop a priority over the path. What you have now is small enough to look ridiculous. It looks like you have some nice plants. They are not placed well and are possibly too close the the house. Relocate them spacing as suggested by Yardvaark earlier. Perennials will help the bed look more filled in while the shrubs take the time to grow. Some conifers grow slowly. Don't plant shrubs in front of the stoop or next to the steps. Shrubs need room to grow and you don't want them crowding the entrance. It would be worth investigating the cost of a retaining wall on the left side so the lawn could be more level. In the example above I am picturing the top terrace as being your lawn. Here is another area with a patio on the higher tier and lawn in the lower tier. You would have real steps instead of the silly bits of lawn. ^last one You might want to remove the lawn from the area nearest the road. It looks dangerous to mow and would be more attractive with ground cover which can include prostrate shrubs. Here is an image I borrowed from another site. It looks to me as if you could get a wider door and have a solid window to the left of it as opposed to a prefab sidelight. In doing so the door is much closer to being centered. What you have now is nice in my opinion and suits the house. I only suggest if it really bothers you that the gable is not centered. I am not a skilled artist so my mock up is very basic. I see that I did not make the stoop wide enough. It should extend equally from center and I know a handrail is needed too. If no one else mentioned it, a larger light fixture would be a big improvement. It looks like you just have an exposed bulb right now. On the right side I have two recommendations. First that you plant a tree that will stay smallish about 15 feet off the corner of the house. I would also suggest a row of broad leaf evergreens to eventually screen the view of the neighbor on that side.They came out looking columnar which I am not suggesting. Choose any shape you like. Do not add dormers. Do not paint the brick. Do not watch Fixer Upper.

Anna I love your front entry! Of course you already know I like the color scheme :) what colors did you use? We haven’t 100% committed because we haven’t purchased more than the sample sizes. If I could I’d just get rid of the brick, but that’s more than I have to spend! im also open to other paint ideas, we just want to freshen things up and improve curb appeal this summer. Our neighbors house is a rusty orange and red brown trim, the others is a blue tinged white with bright red trim. The rest of the homes in the neighborhood are beige like mine or green, grey, or blue. Lots of stone on those as well. Full sun today.

Zone 5b huh? Right now you have a nice wide termite-free gap between the ground and your rim joist. I know they aren't terribly common in most of Michigan though although you technically do have them in that zone, I don't know how much of an issue you have in town with them. Also, poured concrete foundations rely on outward drying to keep from pumping lots of moisture into your basement or crawl space. If you fill up the outside face with dirt all the way up, you may start having moisture drying inward too much. Your examples are not well landscaped. They have the same problems most people do: they put stuff too close to the house, or things that are far too big so they have to constantly trim them back. Like with your first example home, those look like Yews on the left. Those bushes are naturally much larger than that. They have them too close to the foundation. You can do a nice stone border for your shrub area without actually raising it if it is the enclosed look you are after.