For an entrance that is tucked back at a distance and around the corner of a garage, t's not going to look good if the walk is narrow and engulfed by plantings. In order for it to look inviting, the walk must be wide and feel spacious. If there is any way the walk can be widened, I'd do it. And then either eliminate adjacent plantings or have them be low an unobtrusive. Another thing that doesn't look good is for trees in an island to be right at, or too close, to its edge. Obviously the trees cannot be moved so the solution is to expand the size of the island. It's shape needs to loosely reflect the arrangement of trunks. Here, a circle is good. Since the island is directly in front of the entrance, of which you wouldn't want to obstruct the view, the plantings should be low. Asiatic jasmine would be perfect. It doesn't need to have additional shrubs that are tall or possibly contribute to a jumbled look. I think a small umbrella tree off of the corner of the house, with groundcover below in a circular bed to reflect the tree, would look better than some needle shaped shrubs. The foundation shrubs ought to acknowledge the existence of architectural features.

If you do decide to add shutters back to the double window, you do have room to make them the right size so they appear functional even if they aren't functional. The shutters on the double windows need to be much, much wider than what you had before. Here are two brief articles about the wrong and right size shutters so you can see why it makes a big difference on how your house appears - either finished or off. Adding hardware to the right sized shutters helps too. https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/residential-architecture-101-shutters/ https://thecraftsmanblog.com/why-fake-shutters-make-me-angry/ In the examples below you see very wide shutters that appear to cover the windows. Notice the shutters are only on the windows where they look like they fit and not on the windows where there isn't enough room. The house is balanced. You don't need shutters on every window when they are decorative shutters. IMO placing too small decorative shutters on your windows only enhances the feeling that something is wrong with the house curb appeal. Your mind's eye see's the disconnect even if you don't recognize what it is that is throwing the balance off. Your original question asked about dark brown cedar on the bottom half of your house. I don't think that will enhance your home at all. I do think changing the shutters to the right size and changing the walkway to be wider and more welcoming will be a big help. Landscaping changes as mentioned are critical to improving the front. I like the idea of a proper portico like littlebug shows in her second example OR the big change that suezbell mentioned across the front (shed roof). But those changes are personal preference for you and not required at all IMO.

I wouldn't do that fireplace surround. It's jus not a good look w/the type room/decor you have. try it elsewhere. try craigslist and similar sources for rugs, tables, shelving. as for the room layout, for the wall that's next to the doorway, and to the right of window (pic #3 up top) what if you did some cool shelving or book cases? I'd also look into doing some sort of shade or blind instead of those bulky drapes. This is a simple layout you could copy. a larger sofa w/a chaise would work for that room better than your two sofas. if doing a tv, try a shallow console and mount the tv to the wall. you can do a 'coffee table' by utilizing an ottoman or something similar. this type of sofa against the large windows would work out better. notice the blinds, nice contrasting paint color on the walls, colorful rug, potted plants. same layout. Imagine your windows are behind the sofa. shallow shorter shelving on the opposing wall is great for kids toys and books. mount tv. fabric ottoman for coffee table. neutral rug.

Does anyone comprehend this complete patio space yet? I don't. I only see two barely overlapping pictures, a third picture in which the camera changed position so it can't be part of the scene set, and a 4th picture that doesn't connect to any of the other pictures. Jdobbswood, all pictures must overlap and the camera must remain at ONE position for all of them (of a single scene.) Now that we see a bit more, I think you should have set one camera viewpoint as the left corner of the patio. And there should be another camera position opposite it from outside the brick wall, for a completely separate scene ... another set of pictures. It would also be helpful if you draw a to-scale base plan that includes the house wall, patio slab and brick wall.