These are 4' T12? If so, reconsider linear fluorescent. Modern ballasts run at 20,00-60,000 Hz rather than 60 Hz so you can not hear them. No flickering either. Even i they are odd length, it might be worth it. You can install T8 or T5. I've never been particularly fond of the idea of dimming arc lamps, but why are you against it? What you might consider is installing the lamps in groups of three in each tray if they fit. Switch them so either one or two come on in each group with a switch throw. That way you have three light levels, one lamp, two lamps or three lamps/group (33%. 67% or 100% if you use all the same ballasts). Adjust the amount of light installed by using low, normal or high ballast factor ballasts. There are now ballasts that can operate at two or three brightnesses as well. They use a separate control wire rather than a dimmer. Light quality and color are better than ever. CRI 90 is not unusual, and higher is available. Triphosphor tubes are available in color temps from 3000 to 6500 with lots of choices in between. You might well be able to use your existing luminaires if that is easier. You have to pay attention to the sockets. Are they instant start types or rapid start? I'd not install instant start in homes under normal circumstances. They are no good for frequent switching. If you can't run another switch loop to the switch boxes easily, you might be able to find a remote that will work. You can keep searching for LEDs, but cost will be much higher, and light quality will be lower. Even lifetime cost might be higher if you pack enough leds up there to have the same light as linear Fl. Installation costs certainly will be very high.

Remove the meatballs and amateur garden center retaining walls in favor of one single low horizontal retaining wall. Pick a material that relates to the exterior choices. Matching brick if you could. Cot-ten steel possibly. The wall should have a decent horizontal space between it and the street where some larger scaled pots and concrete jigsaw puzzle blocking “garden” with some heavy “sculptures” can shine. Look at the standard blockade pot planting’s meant to keep vehicles from ramming public buildings. You will need an expert to design this, and implement it. Maybe Phase 1 is Design, and Phase 2 is Implement. The smaller space between the top of the wall and building can be actual planting’s, but mostly drought resistant grasses and maybe some very low growing junipers. The building is a STAR, and needs to be more revealed than hidden by landscaping. Also think about a rooftop terrace and garden if it’s flat. Would be cool to see a hint of green in the sky peeking over like a secret paradise.

Read the Housetweaking blog from early 2011 through 2016/2017 or so. Dana and her husband bought an old, ugly midcentury and DIYed it into a really cool space - keeping the midcentury vibe but not being 100 percent married to it and doing it on a budget. They've moved on to a different house but all the old posts are still on the site. https://www.housetweaking.com/current-house/

For what it’s worth, a neighbor-friend on a street where I used to live put their house on the market a week or so ago, and I looked at the listing, which included a link to street view. I happen to scroll a few houses further, and I noticed that one of the houses on the street — a colonial like yours — had been ”updated” to have black windows, modern door, plain columns, sort of like picture Maureen posted. It truly looked awful, especially since the surrounding homes all still have a coherency of history about them (houses typically 100 years old on the street, not special, but just typical of an era, with variety of victorians, colonials and 4-squares). I think the people who updated their probably knocked $100k of the value, possibly more. It looked like the house had a fire or a tree fall on it, and they couldn’t afford to rebuild it to its orginal charm. HOWEVER: When I actually lived in that neighborhood I was taking a walk one day, and I passed a small group of people meeting on the sidewalk in front of a 100-yr old colonial house where the BACK SIDE of the house had been completely knocked down and rebuilt in steel and glass. I overheard the architect (who was standing right there) explain to the 2 other people) how when they toured the house, they should notice in particular blah blah — I just stood there, shamelessly eavesdropping, and when they started to walk toward the house I tagged along — I think the architect didn’t quite realize I didn’t know the other 2 women. Anyway, the back end of the house was super contemporary (it faced into a hill, so there was no problem with the all glass walls). Why don’t you leave the front of your house as is and do the back as MCM as you wannabe?