I have a pretty good idea of the price of windows. 8k cheap - 20k mid/expensive. And the roof would be about 7k shingles and (not entirely sure yet) but I think around 10-11k metal. Gutters will be what we put into them. But we need and will use windows and a new roof and a painted house. I mean, it will take a while to pay back in heating costs, but in the winter sitting by the front window, there is a gusty cold zone. And I'm in a mid-atlantic area, I'm not going to start covering my windows in plastic like my VT relatives! But the porch would just be cosmetic unless we actually put enough into it that we would actually use it. Heating, cooling, more windows, bug protection, lighting, finishes. And I'd rather have that someday in the far future if we ever choose to invest in it in the back of the house which is very private. Believe me, I know, before we even closed I had mocked up this but we tabled the idea after much discussion: And the typical simple extended porch you'd see with with a colonial doesn't excite me either. Sure it might not be that expensive, but why should I invest in turning 'bleh' (to me) into 'that's ok.' I'd rather invest in something I really like. I'm not investing in curb appeal for future buyers, but in my own home satisfaction.

What is a "reasonable" budget? There's really nothing wrong with a house that looks like it was built when it was built. It would be better to enhance what is there rather than try and change it into something else. The thing that strikes me in a "bad 80s" way about this house, and many other of it's era, is the phony Palladian elements: the mismatched arches over the upper window and the door. You may not be able to do much about the one over the upper window, but the divided lites, with the divisions in the segmental arch overdoor that would never have been seen in a historical Palladian window and look phony in this one, are where I would spend my money. I would put a segmental arch window over the door that matched the others in trim color and without the fake divided lites (since none of the other windows have them) and do sidelites that also matched the other windows, and looked single pane. That would make the front of the house a bit more cohesive in a good way.

I really like your contemporary house and the original color, and I agree about updating to a modern, mostly glass door. We are amazed how much a modern door changed the look of our 80s house, both from the curb and from inside!

Your home is Contemporary, but not Colonial by any definition. All of your evergreens have hit their 'sell by' date. They are overgrown covering your windows and cannot be trimmed into any viable shapes. Look at Superdeck.com for Their Duck Back stains for your home. Here is the color chart I would recommend you select a weathered driftwood stain for your home and possibly consider a corrugated metal roof for your home. To complement the new stain I would recommend the driveway be overlayed with a Chip or Macadam stone driveway. The contractor sprays some tar on the existing asphalt driveway spreads stone like a pea gravel and then rolls over the stone to press the new layer into the tar. I think it could be a handsome finish to your home.