Your home looks nice as is but one change that would be worth making, if structurally possible (weight bearing wall), is to remove most of that solid wall (about six feet) that is located to the right of the entrance in front of the door and altering that one arch across from the front door (only that one) to create a wider (rectangular) opening there -- an opening distinctively different from the arches of the porch and the windows. Making that opening larger would make your front door more visible and it would enable you to make your front entry more the focal point for the front of your home -- especially if you added some dark bold color by painting your front door -- and changing that one arch to a rectangle should not "confuse" the style of the home. You could frame that rectangle in wood. and/or You could also add a pergola or sun roof in front of the rest of the front porch -- in front of the arches -- if enlarging your front porch is of interest to you. Another idea to "break" the look of so much concrete could be to add vertical wood boards between each of the arches and add brackets for hanging flower baskets on those boards.

As you rethink your landscaping, consider what changes you'd make to the house itself IF and when your budget permits so your landscaping (because of what you spent on it making you reluctant to change it) might block some change you may want to make later. If you're not planning to add to the front of your home, choose shurbs that thrive in your area and keep their leaves year round. (In Zone 7, I'd suggest aucuba.) If you're even considering changing that front "half gable" into a wider full gable in order to have your door in the front exterior wall rather than opening toward the side of the home and/or if you're even considering building a front porch, make your new sidewalk from your front steps lead away from the house far enough before turning toward your driveway to do that. Planter box with trellis could be placed to hide any discoloration of your siding.

I wouldn't say it is without any curb appeal. It is attractive with a kind of rustic vibe. I would not ditch the shutters. They are completely appropriate to this house. If you removed them, you would be left with even larger expanses of blank wall, out of balance with the window sizes. Although the shutters on the two short upper story windows could be a bit wider, some will repeat the dogma that they should be sized to look able to actually cover the windows when closed and should be removed if they don't. That is clearly impossible here and would also give an unbalanced feel. IMO of course. I might give the front and storm door a color that works with the siding and roof (pumpkin, maybe, or a warm strong blue or green). I can't really see the porch/front door light, but the ones by the garage door are rather undersized. So the front door one might be also. What is really needed is better landscaping. The rows of small/narrow shrubs don't add much appeal, and still won't once they've grown. I would consult with a garden center (if they have a designer on staff, many do) to come up with a more varied and naturalistic planting scheme.

@sadkd I know. It always amazes me when I see a yard exposed to a street or of a certain age and there is no landscaping at all. Hang in there. It will happen. At least you're dealing with a blank slate that you don't have to clear out. When I bought my house 20 years ago, that backyard was basically a pine forest with an ivy carpet surrounded by a four foot chain link fence. Six weeks after moving in, there was an ice storm that took out 14 of the pine trees and as they fell, the fence. One of the enormous pine trees hit my roof, breaking the ridge and smashing about 7 rafters. Branches came through the lovely popcorn ceiling inside. While others in the neighborhood were lamenting the storm I was dancing at the thought of fewer trees, new fence, smooth replacement ceilings and a new roof replacing the ugly one that the former owners had put on the prior year to make the house more saleable. Long story to say, at least you don't have to have an ice storm to clear your yard. I paid a landscape architect to draw up a plan for the yard, including the addition of the dry creek to control a water problem. Little by little I did something big every year and now it's lush and mature. Those vines are two $9.99 one gallon plants from Lowes planted about 18 years ago. A good plan (which will change but at least you have something to work toward), patience (smaller plants are cheaper and they grow for free), some elbow grease and as much knowledge as you can gain will get you where you want to go without a big budget. Some of the big stuff you'll have to pay for, like the dry creek, but a lot of it you can do yourself once you've educated yourself on proper planting techniques. See if there is an area garden group on NextDoor (that's where you'd ask) or FaceBook. People love to share ideas, advice and plants. As @Seattle suggests, drought tolerant ground covers and plants are what you need. You can likely find people in your area who are happy to divide what they have (assuming you do the digging, I got beautiful, unique day lilies that way) but sometimes they'll just share. If you want privacy from the road, you can grow drought tolerant shrubbery inside the fence and over time, it will poke its branches out of the fence and you won't see the fence. My neighbor did that and it worked great. All the best to you on this adventure.