First of all, no to shutters. They don't work on most of your windows. I can't tell for sure but there looks to be some warm gray tones (think gray/brown) in the stone so I think you could go with a warm gray stain on the siding. Changing the stone would get expensive so I would only do that as a last resort. I would leave the trim white but you could do a more substantial trim around the other windows. It looks a little skimpy right now. Getting with a nursery guy to do some trimming back of the landscaping would also be beneficial.

If you're interested in seeing some virtual changes to your home check out my website, Creative Visual Concepts. I could show you how these and other possible changes could look on your home.

Thanks @Creative Visual Concepts, Kevin Strader. I don't mind the cost of changing the stone. It's not too much stone, and this is an expensive neighborhood where there's upside on the home value. Actually was considering adding more stone even if we change it. Maybe that whole right section of the house? Would that be appropriate?

The pic is a little old, a storm took down that big middle tree, and we trimmed some more of it.

If you're going to redo the stone I would go for something more like a stacked stone instead of the random size fieldstone. You could do the far right side of the house so that both front facing gable areas would be stone but I kind of lean more towards doing it just where it is now to make the entrance more of a feature. It reminds me a little bit of another project I did for a client who had some brick around his entrance and wanted to see it replaced with stone.

This was his house.

I also had a thought that you could stain your front doors a darker color. Maybe something like a dark walnut stain.

Also consider removing the giant bush in the middle of your home and trimming the one on the left side so it's not touching the house. The rest of he landscaping looks nice, but overgrown landscaping dates houses faster than almost anything else. I would use a taupe color for the siding, and stain the door a deeper shade.

I like the gray that celerygirl suggested and maybe you can stain the existing stone gray, too. I would add a portico with square columns and a curve to accommodate the Palladian window. I think the fan lights on the other lights date the house. I would replace them with rectangle ones and get rid of the fan detail up top.

I would not add more stone to the house. Definitely not stacked stone. Go for real stone if you're going to, but I don't think you need it.

Get rid of any huge plants hiding the house.

Changing the stone is not going to fix the house. That front entry gable's proportions are all wrong for this house. I would remove it and replace it with a portico like this. I've added another window on the second floor and I'm not sure that works with your interior layout, but I'm trying to get your McMansion to b a bit more classic in style.

BTW all the arborvitae have seen their best days and need to go.

Thanks for the great suggestions so far, I'm loving the other perspectives.

Estimates for changing the stone haven't been too bad. I think I'd like it a lot more with a stacked more modern stone. (New homes in the area, while colonial, all have a lot of modern stone on them.) I'm open to anything, but I think adding or changing windows will be more costly (with demo/framing/window/siding).

Would it help to extend the gable over the front door to cover the whole front porch area? Could I do that without columns? (not that I'm opposed to columns, but not sure if they go) Covered porch would definitely be less McMansion and fit in the area better.

Without changing the windows, what kind of trim work would help around the windows? Just thicker moldings? Will it help and be ok to just ditch the fan detail above the second floor window? Even if I leave the fan lights on the first floor? I don't like fan lights, but the house has semi circle windows like that on all sides, so it's a bit of a theme. Not sure if it makes sense to just change a few to square.

Attaching photos of a couple neighboring homes that feel way less McMansiony to me. Would love to be as nice as them.

Make sure you're not just 'putting lipstick on a pig' with your adjustments. No one wants to spend good money and then not have it result in an improvement.

Get a price for some type of portico. It doesn't have to be the elaborate one I drew up. Right now a guest who comes to your home is not protected from any bad weather.

The thing that screams 200 to me are the arched windows and the over done entry so if but budget allowed those would be the first thing to go. Stacked stone is already dated so no to that. I need to see a close up of the stone it does not read reddish brown on my monitor but I also can’t see it clearly.

@BeverlyFLADeziner I have a 2 story foyer. The current entryway at least is 1.5 stories. Won't it not fit the house as much to just do a 1 story portico? Hard to see in the pic maybe, but there's a 3 foot covered area in front of the doors. (those are coat closets on each side that jut out and are covered with the stone)

@Patricia Colwell Consulting The house feels McMansiony cause of a lack of detail. It's too much a plain rectangle. Won't it be worse to get rid of the stone entryway? Like I said above, those are also the closets. So can't really get rid of them. If stacked stone is out, what stone is in? I can try and get a better pic of the stone, but it's very brown with reddish tones.

There are so many stones if you are changing you could even do bricks. I do not believe more trim and detail will make it less mcmansion. I like Beverly’s portico idea.

Mike, My sketch takes you from a double door to a door with sidelights. It won't even touch your coat closets. The portico is the depth of your current stoop that is exposed to the weather.

IMO, Celery girl's rendition provides the biggest change. NO to stacked stone, not at all appropriate for your home's style. The correct choice would be Pennsylvania Bluestone.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS854US855&sxsrf=ALeKk00pTyh5GG_FCqJAlUaGuIK8PNWH8w:1588694618684&q=pennsylvania+bluestone&tbm=isch&chips=q:pennsylvania+bluestone,g_1:full+color:IQiAq5lmbJU%3D&usg=AI4_-kR80K-lkfHnDqSVDNkIq-g44Mbadg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjOrZzTjJ3pAhVMgK0KHRFlAG0QgIoDKAF6BAgKEAY&biw=1198&bih=628

Meant to add this rendition of a portico with square columns.

I like the current portico shape, as it harmonizes with the roof line of the right half of the house. To me, the row of dormers looks like aliens perching on your roof and are the main thing giving your house that overly busy McMansion feel, but I presume they add character inside and that you wouldn't want to mess with them. I'd start with the celerygirl paint treatment, and you might just focus on landscaping updates and adding some color, rather than worrying about how your architect stacked up against others on your street. A house is to live in, not to make postcards of.

@chiflipper Any good examples of that stone on a house and not just as patio flooring?

@acm The attic is unfinished and unfinishable, so the dormers are really just for exterior styling besides attic natural light.

Gray stain, with arched gable portico and shutters on the small windows - lower level windows could have a transom added to the top to replace the fan windows.

The house feels McMansiony cause of a lack of detail. It's too much a plain rectangle.

I have a totally different definition of "McMansion" than you do.

I like the gray with white ideas.

Well, food for thought...

Your home looks much more classic than McMansiony to me.

You could extend the existing forward facing front gable to cover your steps as shown in the pic just posted by houssaon. That's where I'd stop; however,

If you want to try to do more:

... If you create a shed roof just beneath the upstairs windows and to create a front porch across the full width of that part of the house, you will lose the visual appeal of the copper top of the bay windows so,

... if you want more front porch, you might consider extending the upstairs roof either as a shed roof two story front front porch or changing the front half of the roof line for a wide forward facing gable however, I cannot recall seeing a home similar to yours with the upstairs roof extended for the porch without also seeing a balcony above / in between the roof and the front porch -- and, a word of caution here, that may well be a structural as well as a decorative issue.

PA Bluestone can be ordered as "dressed stone" (cut into regular patterns) or as "flags" (stone pieces with irregular edges). It can be selected for color, ranging from an almost uniform blue-gray, to a mixture of the many "shades" available. Contact a Bluestone supplier, they will have computer software to allow renderings of the stone on your home. (Just like the paint companies.)