It looks like it is orginal to your stunning house! Walking up to it must feel like a warm welcoming hug. Nicely done.

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.

Well, painting our doors is taking much more time than anticipated! Partly bc we decided to take them off to lay flat and spray for a smoother finish. Plus my husband decided to work on building our shed yesterday so i had to wait for help on a few occasions. But we need a shed so that’s ok! Prep took forever bc the doors are not in great shape. And those darn windows! But I got both doors prepped and we sprayed 1 coat of primer on 1 door. But then couldn’t move it right away and then had to hang them before dark! So we will finish this weekend! I’ll post pics when done. Thank you!

I need to see the door since I have no idea what grooves you are talking about . As for house #s I like them close to the road and as far as you are from the road 8" will not show up at all. Please post pics we can enlarge to see exactly the issues for both of these items. I agree there are in some cases rules for emergency vehicles most are are now using GPS so not such a big deal My house BTW cannot be accessed from the road in front so my house #s are huge and on a huge rock right at the back road with a light too.