Just wanted to comment that replacing the yew with a fruit tree is not a great idea. Too close to the house and fruit trees rarely have an intrinsic beauty to them other than their ability to produce fruit :-) Instead select a small ornamental tree for that location or a larger shrub that can be trained into a tree form. Better yet, pull that bed curve out several feet and plant further away from the house.

And yes, that walkway need major attention!

Knowing you geographic location will illicit more appropriate responses.

I'm in Cleveland, Ohio. Good idea about enlarging the bed

Big bush from left side has to go or trimmed.

Yews can be transplanted or hacked back. Severe pruning helps transplanting. We transplanted 3 yews, one struggled for a year or two, the others did fine. The first looked like it wouldn't make it.

We painted our battleship gray house SW juniper blue. It looks great. Huge improvement. Unless you are going for yellow or brown, I'd keep the roof black or dark gray.

A highbush blueberry might be the right size for that spot. You don't want a tree. If you can grow currants, blackcurrants or gooseberries make for the right size, reasonably attractive fruiting shrubs. You don't want a tree there. Since many fruit trees grow to be 20 feet tall without being on dwarfing rootstock, "dwarf" fruit trees are often not very small. You certainly don't want a fruit tree that you'll need to remove about the same time it's big enough to produce a decent harvest.

I find that people who keep their lawn mowed and pay attention make a huge improvement over renters, even if they aren't doing much.

I would go with pale yellow/ivory/off-white

Grecian Ivory SW

Or cool beige/tan

with Edgecomb Gray BM

HI -- You mentioning a budget , I do not understand why you would buy such an old house that could turn into a money pit . Old houses cost a lot to fix up and it could never end . Yes it is nice and charming but a big deal to take on . I wish you well and luck with that .Have you tried to find vintage photos of the house from years past to use as a guide for proper features .Do lots of research on Craftsman style houses . I think it will probably need repairs and replacements on things you cannot see , such as electrical wiring and plumbing and heating and insulations and structure . Maybe the cost of asbestos and lead paint removal and critter removals ??? I am sure it will be beautiful and I wish you well .

I would wait until you remove the paint from the stone before picking a color. You never know if you'll want to keep what's under the paint or re-paint the whole thing.

Lovely house! Congratulations on your purchase. Since you mentioned a baby, don’t forget to test for lead before you remove the paint.

Houses from that era had a lot of strong colour with a high-contrasting trim colour. Ox-blood red, navy blue or hunter green were used for siding with whites and yellow for trim. You could have a lot of fun with the colour. I agree about finding the natural colour of the stones under that paint and then picking a colour. Right now I'm picturing the stone being granite (grey) with a navy siding and white trim. If the stone turns out brown, then go ox-blood red.

What a lovely house! I second the suggestion to see if you can find earlier photos from the local historical society or archives to guide you. Recommended reading to guide your renovations include Outside the Bungalow, Bungalow Details: Exterior, and Bungalow Details: Interior. For paint colors, check out the Sherwin-Williams Arts and Crafts color palette.

@Bloomingbug What great resources, thanks!

It is likely that large shrub was permitted to get that large because someone wanted privacy on that side of the house. Consider what you need for that side of the house before cutting back or removing the large shrub. If you want the stone foundation pressure washed or sand blasted the bush may well be in the way for that.. The foundation stone would not be my budget priority.

Specific mentions:

Would keep the roof shades of dark gray and subsequently paint the house white -- with the option to paint the window trim and door trim and fascia black. If pressure washing or sand blasting doesn't make the foundation stone something you like, you could paint it black as well, perhaps cladding the steps.

https://www.google.com/search?q=slate+to+clad+steps&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-1-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-25Xs2c3oAhVqkuAKHco0BWEQsAR6BAgDEAE&biw=1366&bih=654

Consider recreating your new walkway so it curves toward your driveway and then outlines your driveway instead of cutting your front yard in half.

If you're not inclined to leave the front door with a wood finish, paint if your favorite bold color -- any color you truly like should work with a shades of dark gray roof and white siding and b lack trim..

These things matter more than "decorative touches" to house or yard. For the yard, initially, just make sure the lawn is healthy, but first ...

Make sure your house is safe and does not have a problem that will cause it to be damaged, creating more work and cost or cause harm to your family.:

... Make sure the house is "in the dry" ... that the roof and windows do not leak .

... Make sure the plumbing doesn't leak.

... Make sure the electrical wiring is safe.

...Make sure any other fuel supply to the house ... natural gas, etc., is safe.

... Make sure there are no hazards such as (asbestos; lead paint).

... Are there any heat/cooling issues

So you don't need to redo what you've already redone before, begin the remodel by creating an end-game plan ... when you're done, what floor plan do you want ... where do you want your bath and kitchen and how much closet space do you want/need , etc.

... Know which walls are weight bearing walls and which ones could be removed and which walls, if any, you want removed.

... Draw, to scale (graph paper) the current floor plan and the floor plan you want.

It is only once the basics are done and a goal is created that you should begin actually investing in the renovation.

Families with children and/or pets may need to prioritize fencing part of their yard before even beginning changing the house as a safety and security measure and for privacy and peace of mind.

... Find out what local building codes will permit you to do to the yard and house. If an older house is on some historic registry, that can further limit what you can do. Know what you can and cannot do before making a costly mistake.

Keep us updated on your progress.

If you're removing your current shrubs, after pressure washing or sand blasting the stone consider replacing them with holly bushes; alternately, skip shrubs and, instead, add a pair of trees in your front yard between which your front door can be seen from the road.

As someone else mentioned the yew can be hacked way down. It will take about a year to look good, but it will be worth it. It would be wonderful if you can uncover the stone. I would love to see this house in period colors. Good luck.

I think the medium paint value is pretty good. If you go too light, the white trim will not pop. But I dislike the battleship/storage unit grey as much as you. Lean in the taupe direction instead ... toward the lightest portions of the tree trunk in the picture ... chocolate milkish. But not brown/tan/beige.

Make a wider walk. A good goal would be equal to the steps width.

Reconfigure the walk connecting to the drive to allow for enlarging the bed.

Maintain the tree trunk as it grows by removing lower limbs. Or they'll become part of the permanent canopy and you'll have a tree branched too low, either blocking the house view or creating an ugly structural form.

IMO, all the foundation shrubs need to go away. They have no hope.

HI -- I really praise you for taking on such a big project and saving a beautiful house . Your district sounds nice because you love it so much .

Cute house- love the combo of colonial revival with arts and crafts.

Stripping the limestone would be awesome. If that doesn’t work or as a stop gap paint all the stone ‘burlap’ from Ralph Lauren- it looks just like limestone. That to me decides the rest of the scheme- white trim (linen white not a bright white) then an earth tone siding- moss green? Then a fun door- yellow! Purple!

Sorry, but I like the gray---I actually live in a similar home---built 1932---but someone put asbetos siding on it and we just signed the papers to get a light/medium gray siding with white trim at corners and at windows---which were already replaced with new ones a couple of years ago. But we are keeping the maroon trim on our front porch for that pop of color---right now the house is yellow with maroon trim so you see why we are changing color. We have been slowly doing upgrades in our house---luckily someone redid the kitchen in nice cabinets at one point but we have replaced the flooring in there. WE redid the bathroom in 2 stages and are very happy we did---still small but better configuration and a shower as we are older and want it safe for us to continue to live on our own as long as possible. We have had to put in new pipes and new lines for water and sewer and we have installed central ac. We replaced the front walk way but ours is to the side and lined our walkway with raised beds and put a triangle bed at the corner and a circular bed on the other side to add interest. There were already bushes in front of our porch and we keep them trimmed---would prefer not to have them but already here so we just maintain. In our back yard we have made a huge patio along the fence where there are trees as no grass would grow there---but we did it in stages. We have a deck back there and park in the back so we don't have to play switch cars in the driveway or park on the street. There are quite a few new ways of redoing your front walkway as the choices in bricks has expanded but look for ones that kind of lock together---putting raised beds along side make it look more welcoming and much less weeding in them. There are new bricks out now that allow you to make raised beds so much easier---Lowe's and Home Depot sell them. I have to agree that planting a tree might not be a good idea unless you do something like a weeping cherry tree as they don't grow too big---but do plant it further from your house than that bed that the yew is in.

@mdcathy I'm a big fan of gray as well, just not this gray. It's very institutional-looking and cold. Good luck on what sounds like a number of good improvements in your home!