macv, I was being sarcastic with the McDonalds comparison, I wasn't even alive in the 70's...thanks for setting me straight, it looks like a ranch painted in McDonald's colors. Barb5, thanks for the tip, I will put my question in there, this was my first post. If you click on the picture and click again it will bring you to a bigger picture. The garage is detached and in the back, essentially he same style and roof but I am going to put carriage doors on it. Karen belle, why do you suggest staying away from white trim? Thanks!

Wow... lots of ideas! The weathered cedar shingles are beautiful and I regret not keeping that look. But I couldn't find any siding manufacturers with vinyl shingles when we replaced the cedar shingles back in the mid 1990's. Today they make a variety of beautiful products. Love these Certainteed shakes in Sable Brown: I also hate the white trim around the gambrel on my house. I don't know what I was thinking when we had it installed. But I do like the brown siding. (Sorry kswl and chickadee2. But I appreciate your honest opinions!) All the homes in our area have either white, tan or yellow siding. I wanted something different. (Ha! I certainly achieved that!) Although we can't afford to cover the white trim and/or replace the siding now I'll get some estimates. At least it's something we can budget for. So back to the door. I need to cover the blue. I visited our local BM dealer and chatted with the decorator about door color. She listened patiently to my sob story about how DH doesn't want a black door and how I would love to have a red door. Well she found the perfect red: BM Country Redwood. ("Nobody has ever returned Country Redwood") It's similar to the Cottage Red that I love but a tad more orange. I painted the door last weekend and just love it! Makes the door the focal point of the house. Will post photos as soon as we get a sunny day to take a picture.

I am not a designer but Iooking at the house the stairs bother me. Too tall and not in proportion with the house. Could you alter so that upon exiting house one would step out onto porch then instead of stairs going straight down have one or two steps left then the stairs begin again to go down. This will move the stairs to the right when facing the house and they won't appear to be such a formidable climb. A good designer could help you choose a nice width too, not as narrow as you have now. Of course your walkway will no longer line up with stairs so that will become another project, although most of it could still be used . Adding width with another material is a good suggestion as well I agree with prior recommendations to change the siding to horizontal at least on the lower part and lose the window boxes as they are not adding to the house. If the staircase is changed an opportunity opens for a good sized box to be incorporated at the top landing in front of the entrance door

Thank you everyone for your comments. I’m sorry I’m just posting now but I didn’t realize I had any responses, let alone so many! No the house isn’t a flip. We used to have a huge 1920s Mediterranean and its just the two of us, so we decided to downsize. We purchased this home because of the size and location. At the time this pic was taken we had just completed the siding and were in the process of painting. I don’t like the driveway encroaching on the walkway/patio, and it’s the main problem I am trying to solve. I love everyone’s ideas and suggestions. We would love to add a porch but can only build out 3 feet from the concrete pad. We are planning to expand out the 3 feet though and possibly add columns. I agree we need something vertical on either side of the door and hadn’t considered hanging plants, which is a really inexpensive and simple solution! I did purchase very large stepping stones for the walkway since I like the modern look. Thank you again everyone. And btw, the interior was completed first and it is beautiful. This home is the perfect size and location for us. We have a gorgeous view of the intracoastal and are very happy here. I will post pics when the exterior has been completed. Cheers!