So are you thinking about removing the overhang over the garage entrance and the house entrance? This would not be the color I would recommend, but I thought we should at least see what happens when it's removed.

All the shutters need to be removed and IMO the bow window is a typically colonial detail that is likely inappropriate.

If you have vaulted ceilings in the living room then tall trapezoid windows would be a nice touch.

Remove those shutters for starters also the bow window . Then you need to decide what route to take as to the style you want. Without seeing the interior moving the door is IMO not a good idea. I also like double front doors for practcality but before doing much if you want help from us we need info. Or at least do some idea books we can get a feel from about your style. It also is really helpful to have some idea of the budget.

Thank you for some input ladies!

We are definitely getting rid of the shutters. We plant to re-roof and re-side the house as well. The picture editing out those wings sparked quite a bit of ideas for us. Unfortunately because it's a split level, we can't vault the front.

Is there a free, online editing tool where you can take an existing picture and delete/add features? We now have an idea about those wings without having to remove them altogether but short of printing a picture and just drawing over it, I don't know how to visualize what i'm thinking.

That's an interesting house for sure--not ugly but yes, funky. It looks like it's about to take flight.

I wonder how much of change you could affect simple by adding columns in logical places.

I would love the see the jutout part pushed back in if possible. Then I would add French doors in place of the lower windows and make a big porch from there past the front door. Add some pretty columns. New doors. New landscape. New lighting. Lots of potential here

Unfortunately, the jutout part above are part of the two bedrooms in the upper level. The windows down below are in the master walk in closet. None of those features can be changed.

After seeing the "wings" being removed, it sparked an idea. I do NOT have good sketch skills but this is the basic idea. We live in a lake community and several homes have these features. The added beams will be cedar, re-do the siding on the jutout part but will remain vertical, add large flower boxes to each window, the portions behind the beams all the way down to ground level will be stone. No shutters, Replace the large window with a smaller window and make entry door larger with a sidelight on the right side. No room inside the entry to do double sidelight windows.

Opinions?

I don’t like the flower boxes. Can you change out those windows to ones that are vertically longer? When you get rid of the bay window It could help quite a bit.

Ah, yes!! I told my husband we needed to do bigger/longer windows and his idea was a big/deeper flower box. I'll let him know I scored on that one. Thank you for your input!

Dawn, I had the same conversation on windows on a second floor with my husband and I lost but only because my garage roof sits under the windows, it put the threshold of the window too close to the roof and snow could pile up and cover it. Having to closely monitor it was his deal breaker. Too bad they don’t make realistic decals that look like windows the way those old smashed baseball into the windshield looked. Please post your final pictures when it’s done, I’m sure its going to be amazing!

I would modernize it. Some kind of balcony, even fake.

I love these ideas, thank you!!