Usually a front porch is for welcoming people or sitting on to interact with your neighbors, which is the opposite of looking for privacy. Make a private area in your back or side yard. I could see a bench or outdoor seating area under your shade tree in the front, but it's not private. I think the main thing your house needs is landscaping along the foundation on the right side of the house. I can't tell if you have a walkway to the front door, but it looks like the hardscape around the porch could be expanded.

That makes sense about the open and welcoming feeling of the front. Maybe a better word to describe what I'm looking for is cozy instead of private. You're totally right about the landscaping - I pulled some overgrown yews out in the front right and now it's just a clean slate. Maybe I could add a little seating area on the porch and new shrubs would finish the landscaping and provide provide a *little* privacy or coziness to boot.

A walkway to the front door is IMO a way to welcome people and is a must. The house needs a bath for sure and remove those too small shutters. Right now you do not have enough space to have seating on the porch so you will need to enlarge the porch or forget about the seating. Do the walkway that will also give you some more area for landscaping along the walk and continue with plantings along the front on the right side or make the porch run the whole width of the house on the right side and then you will have lots of space for seating .

Dig Doug's Designs I love that!

Landscape for privacy and beauty - ask your local nursery for plants that do well in your growing zone and with your home's sun exposure. Adding a nice walkway to the front porch would say "Welcome!". Is your driveway on the right? Consider a curved walkway like that pictured below.

For more front entrance landscaping ideas, please visit our website design gallery.

I agree that in order for the house to look welcoming, the way to the front door must appear visible. There needs to be a spacious landing the full width of the porch. The walk needs to be least 4' wide, and 5' is OK. Walks can be widened and decorated at the same time by adding a border of brick (an 8" strip) running along each side. (If the walk is too close to the home, I would not add a strip of brick on the side that makes it even closer.) If there is too much to be changed, it might be better to demolish the old walk and create a new one. I would not run a second walk straight out unless there is NEED for it.

As far as making the scene look cozy, there needs to be no spaces that should be filled with plants, left empty. The obvious one is along the wall with two windows. There should be some shrubs growing below the windows. The next place is below the purple-leaved tree. A circular bed of groundcover would enhance the scene. If we had a wider view, we might see something similar is needed at the right half of the yard.

Achieving coziness is not helped by letting things become untidy. The lower branches on the trees are impeding the view of the house and the canopies need to be lifted and tidied up.

I think the house would become very plain looking without the shutters. They're an important trim piece. With modern windows, we all know no one actually uses shutters for storms, and that they're just decorative. So they don't need to close -- or even look like it -- in order to be valid.

Thanks for the replies everybody! Here's a couple better photos that show the walkway. I like having the shutters but I plan to replace them with something a little nicer - they will not be functional. Thanks Doug for the rendering and everyone for the advice. Just mowed last weekend but it's already long enough to hide the sidewalk in the first photo I posted :D

Landscaping on the right is a definite red flag. I'll be working on that.

I wonder if extending the porch to the right would open up some options for seating. I'm not sure how the design of that would look, but it has potential.

I would look for a way to expand the landing to the full width of the stoop, and widen the walk.

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