Please post a picture. Also, go to your profile and put your planting zone into the zone box like mine above. This will help us help you know what plants will survive in your climate. Suzi

You have a lovely home! I agree that the tree is planted much too close to the front of your home. Also consider raising the canopy of the huge tree in front. Bring out an arborist for the best results. I like K Laurence's idea of using Rejuvenation.com for your mailboxes, lighting and house numbers. Put in a larger welcome mat, at least the size of the door opening. Consider putting in a small, round freestanding type flagstone (or some other flat stone or brick) patio for the two chairs. You have such a beautiful lush, green yard. Having a small round patio would be a nice touch IMO.

Like the concrete bird bath. Birds will like it more in the middle of your front yard. Like the windmill, too. Perhaps you could level up spots for each of them. On the side of the house, you could extend the existing roof with the same slope enough to cover the side stoop and create a smaller side facing gable over the side door. Add to your front porch (treated 1"x6" rounded edged deck board floor), extending it from the current stoop all the way to the right end of the house plus the additional width of your side deck. Use a shed roof with a small forward facing gable over the front door. By connecting the two porches, you end up with a wrap around porch. Add a treated wood railing, leaving an opening directly across from the front door; also, leave an opening in the railing of the side part of the porch facing the back yard. You've now defined which is your front door and which is your back door. Front porch should be at least 6' deep to allow chairs to be set against the exterior wall of the home and still have room to walk by the rail in front of the chairs. Now do your landscaping to direct visitors from the driveway to your front entrance. By creating a sidewalk that begins with a short straight walk toward the road at the front of the house before curving it toward the driveway, you'll create a planting area between your porch and the walk. If you're in pn planting Zone 7, I'd suggest aucuba bushes -- they keep their leaves and are attractive all year. There are plastic elbows you can attach to the end of your downspout and flexible pipe you can connect to that and bury in the ground -- or at least lay a length of it on the ground beneath your newporch to have the water run out beyond your porch to get the rainwater farther away from your house,

Great house but the foundation is really ugly and the one supporting the brick columns between the scalloped fencing seems silly. So, there's a big demo project right off the bat, along with the mushroom shrubs that are failing to adequately hide the foundation. Looks like you have some vestigial elements on the side that need to go as well: the skinny walk to the gate and the shutters on the window you're concerned about and the large window. Since there is no garage, I would be tempted to remove the front parking pad and develop a garage or carport in the same MCM vibe on the side if you can gain permission to put a drive there. That might be a way you can recycle the brick columns. You already have a door on the side, so it makes more sense to come in on a daily basis through that door. It will also allow for totally new landscaping and better curb appeal in front of the home.