I did lots of thinking on this and came up with this non-constructive thought. If you were to want to sell you home, you would probably ask some real estate agents for proposals (price, their way of marketing, commission, etc.). Once you determined which one you want to represent you and home, the agent will take some pictures as part of the marketing (mostly online anymore). The agent is looking out for you, but also seeking the sale. If the agent believes that something is not right with the photo taken, then you would have a tendency to listen. A real estate agent is not an artist, nor a landscape person, but a good one will have seen lots of homes and knows what works and what doesn't. Stand at the curb. Take a picture, walk to the left and right several paces and take more pictures. Walk up the drive a bit and take pictures, not just of the house, but the view from the house. What would you want to do if you were thinking about buying your home? Now for some other comments: You have many horizontal lines on the actual house. The windows and doors are rectangle. All of that is very typical. Your yard counters that look a bit, but it also moves the eye in an awkward manner. You need to negate that. In your first photo, it appears that the house is leaning because of all that. I concur on getting rid of all that grows between the current walkway and the house. I concur that you ought to not have a straight line walk to replace it. My suggestion to balance the overall look would be to create a small berm on the left side, about 20' out from the house. Nothing large, but something that would break up that falling away appearance. In the first photo, there is lots of shade coming from the left side, I'll assume that there are some tall trees there. I'm a big promoter of color in the front yard; something that complements the colors of the house. Some might think it trite, but a burning bush on the berm would look good as the leaves are changing color this time of year. Those can be pruned to shape or let it go. I would also include blooming perennials that show different colors throughout the year. Poppies might work, as might some Veronica. There are many, many options for that kind of thing. Jim

girlygrdnr - what kind of roses do you get all of those fungal diseases on that you mentioned now? I garden in San Rafael - not that different a climate from yours, and except for this past Spring, which with the relentless rain through May, my roses get hardly any fungal diseases. I have discovered by trial and error (lots) that modern roses (except for some new ground cover types) do/did get fungal diseases in my garden. The roses which DO NOT get fungal diseases (and I do not spray, except for 2-3 mid century hybrid teas which we inherited from my DH's family, which I keep in large pots on the patio away from the other roses) are all OGRs - mostly teas, tea noisettes, chinas, polyanthas, banksias, hybrid musks, and gigantica hybrids. Just wondering if selecting roses which like our climate (which the ones I listed do), instead of roses which were hybridized to like the climate in England (cooler and wetter than ours) might be a better idea. I have over 100+ roses, and if they all got fungal diseases I would not keep them. As I said, except for a few moderns, none of them do. The teas, tea/noisettes, chinas, polyanthas, and hybrid musks bloom for 10-11 months in our climate. Just a thought... Jackie P.S. Here is a pic of a small part of my garden (Spring flush, of course):

In your introductory statement, you say that you're interested in changing "... the front deck into a more pleasant entry way." Let's compare the existing deck to two concepts. Presently, it seems sized such that it could accommodate 3 or 4 people entering. In my concept I haven't the size of the deck much. I've widened it just a little, mainly to allow for building wider steps ... maybe twice as wide as the current steps. It might accommodate an additional person or two. In your concept drawing, you've changed the deck from merely an entrance, to one sized for family gatherings -- lounging, dining, BBQs, etc. Is that how you intend to use the deck? If it is merely an entrance, it does not make sense to overwhelm the space with a lounging and entertaining deck sized for a family ... unless you are receiving visitors in groups numbering into the teens. First, figure out its purpose and base its size on that. Then work out its configuration. Whether its a wood deck or masonry porch structure doesn't matter to its function, as either can do the job. The materials will have more to do with durability, maintenance and the visual, artistic impression that you are trying to make. In general, I think people value masonry porches as the superior ones, b ut it isn't necessarily always that way.

I think it was the blue sky and the white puffy clouds that attracted buyers - those really are some nice happy house pics! Who wouldnt want to live there? Looks like there is some greenspace in back so the paved front really isnt as off putting as one might think from the first picture.