Dretutz, is that tree healthy? I can't make out the trunk very well. If not, its eventual demise/removal should be designed around. Thinking in big terms, the typical open front yard is regarded, and experienced as semipublic space. So is the typical front porch; privacy normally only beginning in the house. To create privacy and a feeling of comfort for the porch, my suggestion would be not just to interrupt the view to it but specifically to redefine the middle portion of the front yard as semiprivate space. Plantings of tree(s) and shrubs (pretty fencing?) toward the front of the lot and curving in along the driveway and other side boundary, taking the form of the suggested berms or not, will do that. The planted tree/shrub beds visible from the street would then be the property's semipublic area and the inside of these plantings and lawn semiprivate. The planting beds themselves don't have to be solid all the way across to perform their function and carefully positioned make a property more lovely to passersby, inviting their attention by framing the best views in and creating a little gentle mystery from other views so that people are intrigued. Gaining more privacy by becoming one of those houses people always look at as they drive by. :) Also, those on the porch will feel farther from the street, and vice versa, as the porch will no longer be semipublic space but private in the background to the middle and foregrounds between it and the street. If, in addition to any trees by the street, a small tree casts some light dappled shade in front of it (perhaps by the driveway in front of the path to the door?) sitting there will be almost as private as the back yard. The plantings, of course, create a view across the lawn from the porch that has little to do with the house opposite, and the inside edge is perfect for bulbs and other ephemerals. Berms can have the nice effect of making lawn they enclose feel like a little "pool." BTW, it might be nice to cast some dappled shade on the driveway/garage door with a similar tree to the left to help them settle into the background too. Thanks for the fun. Back to much more boring work.

Thanks - I'll go with black then. I wasn't sure because the sidelights are both white and the door is black. Looking at my neighbors houses it seems like l may have messed up my order - I should have had the manufacturer paint the sidelights black to match the door and only leave the framing white. I guess I can always paint it black later.

You can paint the storm door to match your entry door and either paint the sidelights to match the other trim, or match the door.

Take the shutters off the ranch & increase the landscaping with hostas in citron colors.