Way to go! Nice house! Everybody will have their own opinions about what looks aesthetically pleasing... For me, I'd enjoy a row of spruces, the nearer the curb the better. Why not have your soil tested and have the utility companies come out spray paint your grass for stuff you'll need to avoid. How long do you intend to live there? If you plant larger trees they give you privacy quicker but cost a lot more. Additionally, plant some 1/2 barrels and put flowers on that patio. Update your front door to something nicer? Just my opinion, your mileage may vary. Gus

Landscaping will do a lot to improve the curb appeal. The beds by the front door aren't very deep, but you could do some beautiful accents in front of the garage windows and to the right of the home. I feel like the windows could use some trim or modern style shutters. Nice all brick home. Landscaping is the key.

"This front is just a mess." That is your first impression. I suggest you live with it for a few months before doing anything. Surely you will change it, but you don't yet know what it's like to live with the existing garden. The experience of it may shift your understanding slightly. mad_gallica said "you have Sun Ra but you want Bach" -- maybe. But maybe you don't know what you have or what you want. Give it time to sink in. What's the rush. No film crew coming, is there? There are philosophies that result in what someone has carefully planned and built in what is now your front garden. It may not be your philosophy, and that's fine, but just "try it on" and spend some time in those "clothes." Then you will come to know not only what you don't want, but you will know WHY and you may even know what you DO want, and why. I don't see it as a maze, but someone in a big hurry undoubtedly sees it that way. In some gardens, indirect paths or spirals are made for meditation or for giving the inhabitant a few extra seconds in the day to smell the roses, or in other words, to appreciate the peaceful feeling a walk through greenery can bring. With combined families, whose garden is it, anyway? ;) Last comment -- when entering the house, you may find you never use the front door, but enter through the garage. If you entertain a lot, a meditation front garden may not be quite the thing. But don't be too hasty. Live with it for a time.

Following up on Addie's idea, if you want to designate an area for the pool and incorporate it into your landscape, why not? Then in spring and fall it could be your campfire area, and in winter you could put holiday decorations there. But my first item on the priority list would be a privacy fence. Frankly your house looks fine/wonderful to me but if you have no back yard and are wanting to get the most use out of your front yard with kids, etc. then start with a GOOD fence. It is not inexpensive. Then just prune a bit or refresh what you have. And for what it's worth, I think the tree looks like it is hugging your house, in a good way! Plus if I was a kid I would be up that tree in a New York minute. :) You don't need to do it all at once! And you can get a lot of plants and other things bit by bit as they come on sale or even for free from friends or neighbors who are cleaning up. Do the big important thing (fence) with a lot of planning and don't skimp on the money and the rest will come from your enjoyment of your private space as time and cash allows.