We also have a plain vanilla ranch built in 1950. It was never MCM nor any style. It was just churned out as a tract home. The basic layout of bedrooms and living space was ok, but we opened the wall between the kitchen and living room, extended and moved the kitchen so the old kitchen is half of the new one and partly as our new main level laundry room. The rest of the kitchen is part of the extension and is adjacent to the new den we added on. Due to budget constraints, we only cathedraled the new extensions' ceilings and the master bedroom ceiling was vaulted as we extended there too. Where we did not raise the ceilings we added in skylights and a 5ft eyebrow window in the front of the house, boxed in like a skylight (and we have a skylight over the den up high). The greater amount of natural light is fabulous and it feels so much more spacious with the openings for the skylights and eyebrow window. We had hated the all low ceilings when we moved in. Our previous house had vaulted and cathedral ceilings over the living spaces and it was hard to adjust to low and flat. I truly think that being able to raise the ceilings and/or use skylights is one of the best features about a ranch. Since the house was built with little style and updated with no style either (unless cheap and ugly are styles, lol), we felt free to create our own vibe. We went for retro modern with a 40s feel. What a modern person would have done prior to MCM is how I'd describe it. It has some deco feel to it but the lines are simple and not ornate. Crown moldings would not have worked, so we have done simpler ones. We chose modest looking but well designed materials. No one would ever think it is fancy or frilly. We wanted clean lines but not sharp edges. It is supposed to feel homey and unassuming. Like a well worn pair of jeans that fit well. We want guests to feel at home. If you come up with your own style mission statement you can check your choices against it. At one point, we fell in love with white marble and wanted that for our counters. Then one day, we figured out it went against all our other choices and was too elegant. We ended up with Corian in their Rain Cloud pattern, which mimics the feel of a white marble, but is not trying to fake anyone out. It has a softness to the look but with all straight lines and an eased edge profile, it looks neat. We ended up with Carrera marble in our master bathroom for the counter and in the faux rug part of our floor. That space is meant to be more grown up and fancy since it is our private space and not designed for the kids. The veins that make it great there would have been too busy for the kitchen. If we had gone for another look, I'd have loved to use the marble as I usually drool when I see it used anywhere. If I ever do a kitchen again, I would want qs oak with white marble or some other medium toned stained wood. The door style would be different as well. We are happy with our vision and how the look has turned out (the gc screwed us on condition, but that will be fixed, someday). It is not plain vanilla any more! Our house looks like no other in our area and I dare say, it is now one of a kind. Hopefully, you find your groove and your end result reflects your style and vision, and makes you smile too ;)

No shutters - wrong for the clean lines of your lovely ranch home, imo I think it is a great idea to take the bushes out of the planters. That will open up the full height of the windows, which will make the body of the house feel taller and work better with the strong roof line. A trellis mounted between the two windows on the left, filled with something climbing and pretty, would be a nice way to break up the long expanse of brick there. The door color does seem a brighter red, and perhaps something rusty would be better. Hard to tell what the real effect is from a distance, tho, in the pix you have posted. I would look for a more modern light fixture for the front door. The carriage light says colonial to me. How about something like this? kichler transitional bronze wall light I think the light has a cleaner line, but not too modern, and echoes the multiple panes in your windows, not fighting with the circles in the front door glass.

I could recommend a few tweaks to the layout, if these were individually-built box cabinets. From what I can see, though, they are very solid job-built custom cabinets. These are so much nicer and better quality than the standard builder grade cabinets used most of the time now. I agree with those who say just change the minor things for now, and save up for a total renovation after you live with it for awhile.

I would leave the brick and do a major spring clean up. The landscaping needs a lot of help. The columns should be beefed up. They are way to spindly. Your gutters need to be cleaned out, before you are dealing with water damage. I can see all that debris from the trees, in the picture. Its a very cute house, and the brick look nice on the front of it. If I were a buyer, I would prefer the brick over painted.