Great! If the roof is brown, you have a world of colors to choose from. In that case, I would chose a color for the trim and then paint the garage door that same color. The house door can then be another color to bring attention and help it stand out. Do you want to paint your trim every several years, or are you wanting to cover the trim with vinyl and aluminum? That is the first question you have to decide. The second choice greatly narrows your color choices. If you decide on paint, Chose a color family (like dark taupes or bronzes or ivory or hunter greens or turquoise...) and get paint samples at the local paint stores and paint some poster boards. You just live with them next to the house and roof on non-rainy days and see what you like. I once painted stripes of color on the wood of a house we were going to side. Neighbors walking by were asked to vote! Are you gardeners? Are you interested in taking care of annual flowers (water once or twice a day, fertilize occasionally, keep weed-free), or learning about perennials or bulbs? If you want to learn, you can actually make a garden bed that always has either a bulb or perennial in bloom. Or, you could go low-maintenance with shrubs and mulch. Again, your zone and your house's orientation (NSEW) is needed for anyone to give you advice on plants. I am with those who think that your bushes are way too old and overgrown. Maybe you can keep one or two that are green all the way to the bottom and don't look all shaved down. Use those as a backdrop and go from there. Are you interested in putting in any hardscape? If the window next to the door does not come down too low, it might look nice to have a bench there. Is there a concrete slab area behind the bushes there? if yes, you can use containers to add colorful annuals. If you want to garden, you can make garden beds in front of the front door area. Little fences or a raised bed made with landscaping stone are all options. Over where the room comes out further than the porch, there is a nice bush near the corner that may be in good enough shape to keep. Not the one by the downspout, the one in the front. (I would remove all of the bushes to the left of that one.) If there is a matching bush in good condition on the other side of that room, I might leave them both, but remove the ones in the middle, so the other two have room. You might be able to put a trellis under the window and train a flowering vine to spread side-to-side and fill some of that space on the wall. A few low plants around the tall bushes and in front of the vine, and you are done in that area. With a taupe roof and creamy brick, you have a pallatte limited only by your wallet, skills, and imagination!

Wow thank you all for the awesome feedback! So far I think my favorite ideas are darker roof, darker shutters on just the two smaller windows (removing them on the picture window), stained garage door, staining our original door a bit darker, and maybe a portico style that has the open rafter look with a shallower peak (larger than a 90 degree angle). We definitely need a path to the driveway and not the street, as our subdivision has no sidewalks. I would love to see some landscaping ideas with more grasses and smaller shrubs, as I think anything too big swallows up the house. Thank you all again, these visuals and ideas are so helpful! Oh, and I would love to see the trim color a bit darker, maybe pulling a grey color from the stone-work. What do you all think?

Those white painted rocks in the pics above make the house look like its made of marshmallow fluff! Not a good look. OP, Im willing to bet that those rocks are on the front only, am I right? Usually I argue in favor of saving original house parts but i have to say, the 50s thing for attaching fake rocks or brick veneer to the front only (like we cant see the sides??) is really annoying. Take it off! (Be sure to post after pics). Glad the tree is staying. Its not that close, and looks to be in good shape - a good tree adds value to a house. When the time comes redoing your front beds and adding a snazzy new door will add much more appeal.

Like Patricia, its the sea of asphalt that stops my eye. Then the jumbled plantings keep me from exploring further. The brick is not the issue, so you can save a lot of money right there. Tackle the real problems first. Have you considered taking your home in an Asian direction? Lighting could provide an interesting look for you.