If you can remove the pillars and retrofit wood with anything falling down, I would definitely do that. Also, if you don't use/need the shutters, I think they should be removed. If the bushes are diseased, they would need to go. That's a shame, as I was hoping the coloring was natural, as it is one of the few things that breaks up the dominance of green in the garden. However, it does allow you to start the garden design with a cleaner slate. As well as plants that flower at different times in the season, I would definitely look for shrubs with red, yellow, purple etc in the leaves. With that much area given over to lawn, green shrubs and ground cover just looks bland.

Here are few things to improve the look of your house without too much repainting. --First thing is to remove the shutters entirely for a streamlined look. --Paint both garage doors the color of the siding. --Paint the side entry doors to the garage the same color as the siding to make them disappear. Paint the entry door blue to stand out. --Get modern large bronze house numerals and larger sconces in bronze finish. --Spend your money on creating deep front garden beds up to the edge of the driveway, which will take the eye off those double garage doors that take up way too much visual space.. Go to a garden center and get someone to design the beds for you. Your driveway takes up so much visual space, extended beds of shrubs, perennials, and grasses, maybe even a few large rocks the color of your driveway would greatly improve the house. This mulch would be too dark. Something a bit reddish would work better with your house color but not that awful too-bright cedar red.

You need a color that works with your roof and your stone. Thats gonna be tricky because your stone looks to be beige but your roof is a dark charcoal. Gotta have something that works with your windows too unless you plan to change those. Check out Maria Killam blog. Tons of info and most of what im about to tell you comes from her and from the Brick and Batten blog. Get rid of the big ass bush and update your posts and railings. Go light and fresh on your paint. Offhand, id look at BM Edgecomb Grey. Its a green gray that will generally read ivory on exterior. Thats a wild guess you will need to test until you find the color thats right. BM white dove can also work with warm beiges but it has a little grey so might work with your roof. Get samples from samplize. Bigger and more modern house numbers. On the paint, light and monochromatic is current. Your garage door is too much real estate IMO to paint black. If you must go dark do something like Kendall Charcoal. A true black would be very harsh. Figure out body color first then your door and other accents. If all this seems overwhelming send pics of your house to BrickandBatten.com and they will do the whole design for you, as will Maria. You might try posting on other Houzz forums also which is free. Lots of good ideas there. Check out the before and afters on brick and batten and maria's blog. You've got a very nice house...with updates it could be a total knockout.

I like your roof! Here's an option to get things started. BM Berkshire Beige with Brownstone on the garage. Not sure about the trim. Personally, unless there is something wrong with the stucco, I'd paint it and take the money you save on siding to upgrade the porch in some way. For me, it's too small for the house, can you make it wider?. Looks like you're creating an English garden feel. Every garden needs a place to sit and enjoy it.