Trees! Tall evergreens. And it almost needs ivy, although I wouldn't recommend anyone actually planting ivy, but a climber of some sort (on a trellis perhaps) would be so very suitable. It's not a BAD '70s Mansard roofed house. It's just lonely. You need to downplay the driveway side and dress up the windowed side which is actually kind of cool. The garage door should be painted a more blendy color and the front door should be more "welcome to my glamorous home"ey. I'd visit the landscaping forum. Here is a link that might be useful: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/design/

Your house is nice looking. It does need better landscaping. More on that later. As viewed from the street your roof is prominent. That means you can't go cheap on roofing. What you have now is not attractive. I don't know how many more years it will last but when it needs replaced I suggest architectural shingles in a darker shade.It will make a big difference. At that time you could replace the gutters on the front. They just don't look right. If you think you might make changes to the roof line that would be the time to do it. Actually I do not suggest making changes of that sort unless done for a functional reason. It is not a cost with good return on investment. Looking at your stoop I have to wonder how risky it is to change the bulb in the outdoor light. It needs to be wider as mentioned above. A path to the door would be very appealing. It looks like you live in a semi rural area with no sidewalks. How often would the path be used? You will have to decide if it is worth spending the money. I would make an enlarged stoop a priority over the path. What you have now is small enough to look ridiculous. It looks like you have some nice plants. They are not placed well and are possibly too close the the house. Relocate them spacing as suggested by Yardvaark earlier. Perennials will help the bed look more filled in while the shrubs take the time to grow. Some conifers grow slowly. Don't plant shrubs in front of the stoop or next to the steps. Shrubs need room to grow and you don't want them crowding the entrance. It would be worth investigating the cost of a retaining wall on the left side so the lawn could be more level. In the example above I am picturing the top terrace as being your lawn. Here is another area with a patio on the higher tier and lawn in the lower tier. You would have real steps instead of the silly bits of lawn. ^last one You might want to remove the lawn from the area nearest the road. It looks dangerous to mow and would be more attractive with ground cover which can include prostrate shrubs. Here is an image I borrowed from another site. It looks to me as if you could get a wider door and have a solid window to the left of it as opposed to a prefab sidelight. In doing so the door is much closer to being centered. What you have now is nice in my opinion and suits the house. I only suggest if it really bothers you that the gable is not centered. I am not a skilled artist so my mock up is very basic. I see that I did not make the stoop wide enough. It should extend equally from center and I know a handrail is needed too. If no one else mentioned it, a larger light fixture would be a big improvement. It looks like you just have an exposed bulb right now. On the right side I have two recommendations. First that you plant a tree that will stay smallish about 15 feet off the corner of the house. I would also suggest a row of broad leaf evergreens to eventually screen the view of the neighbor on that side.They came out looking columnar which I am not suggesting. Choose any shape you like. Do not add dormers. Do not paint the brick. Do not watch Fixer Upper.

We're ready to start planning our project in earnest and aren't sure the order in which we should do the work or how many different types of contractors we need. I'd appreciate any insights you can give. We hope to use the mockup @ourfarmhouse made for us as our goal (see below). Our exterior projects include: New roof in grey, which will require changing the color of the gutters, etc. Architectural elements, such as the columns at the front entry and on the upper dormer windows, and new shutters Painted front door and garage doors (instead of replacing them, for now) Repaired/repaved asphalt drive way 27'x14' concrete patio has a large crack down the entire length that will need repaired, and we're thinking about a decorative finish like acid-staining This same 27'x14' covered patio will be screened-in, and the existing posts might need replaced or refinished; will be changing from brown posts and ceiling to a color that coordinates with the new grey roof. What types of professionals do we need and/or which types of professionals can be used for multiple projects? For example, can we get by with a roofer (roof/gutters), asphalt/concrete company (driveway/patio), and carpenter (architectural elements, screened porch, painting door/garage door, and hanging shutters)? Is there an advantage to using a general contractor?What order should we follow? Thank you!

here are some combos to consider. see if you like any of them Here's a peek at that type of metal roof I mentioned (you could also do this type of metal over those upper windows) This combo would look great w/your natural wood door. bring in some wood posts, trim, garage doors, or even some shake, just to further enhance the wood door. You have that large expanse of siding. what if you broke it up somewhere w/the same color in a composite shake, like shown here? see how the front part was divided with upper being shake? maybe add some stone or brick? another option is to do vertical board and batten to also break up all of the horizontal siding.