This is an adorable house with nice symmetry. I am far from an expert, but I wouldn’t change a thing about the building. Start with landscape. Yes, the oompa-Loompa bushes need to go. I’d replace them with something that will stay lower than the windows. Also, plant enough of them that they extend out to the corners of the house. The brickwork along the steps look like they’d give you a great place to add some decorative pots. Without knowing what zone you live in and what direction the home faces, you won’t be able to get any concrete suggestions as to specific plants. My advice would be to visit an independent garden center or nursery in your area. Most will employ designers who can help you put together a plan based on your local weather and your tolerance for upkeep. It’s generally not a particularly expensive service and often a portion of the cost is rebated back to you if you purchase the plants from the nursery. Remember, you can always do this in steps- over several months or over several seasons. After you’ve tackled the landscape, then you might consider making changes to the house. Then again, you might find it’s simply not necessary. Remember, it’s a first home. Your likely to sell it someday. Don’t spend money over improving the building. Landscaping updates will give you the most bang for your buck.

Hi all, we are in the planning phases now and curious about your thoughts on columns. by the way the porch is 17 feet x 9 feet so plenty of room for us to put a porch swing :) we like the white wood column + black iron railing best. we want a simple vertical railing style. for the columns... would you do round or square given how the house looks?

I'm responding to your first picture. The low, sagging "ceiling" that is created by the bottom of the tree canopy makes the place look overall, neglected. It will look tidier if your create some clearance between the tree canopy and the face of the house. Also, If the structural appearance of the tree is important to you, you'd remove the left limb that starts out like an upraised elephant's trunk. It's headed toward being a major part of the canopy but looks substantially out of whack with the overall branching patter. (It should have been removed years ago and it's getting to the now-or-never state.) To achieve visual appeal of a house, it's necessary to have an inviting and secure path to the entrance. It should be obvious, easy to use and not confined ... all things that would appeal to a human. It should take the mystery of how to get into the house without getting dirty or bruised. Some simple, distinct landscaping would help, too. Groundcover around the base of the tree would look better than dirt and be easier to maintain than trying to grow grass.

I think you could do the black for all three would resemble this another color you may want to try is Urbane Bronze or Iron Ore. they have a bit more brown tone to them so it might work w/the brick color and siding a bit better. grab a few samples. They're SW colors. their samples are about $10. but a better option is to go to home depot, use they're little samples pots ($3) and have them color match the SW colors. just tell them the name and they'll punch it in the computer. The colors won't be exact to SW, but it will be close enough. and if you like the way it looks, just use the Behr paint. similar brick color get some concrete pavers and set them into the ground up to your porch. set them along side the driveway. you could plant your grass around them, or just do something like the large gravel. looks neat if you have to park the car there. and, if you ever think about painting the siding, the darker color looks nice . here are some others. while you're at it, sand your porch wood smooth, and either paint it, or apply a good exterior varnish on it. if you build one of these, try a neutral paint color (like the anonymous or smokehouse color) so that it blends w/the brick rather than sticks out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIP7oIEc-rM or grab some of the lattice panels at home depot and use those. get a large potted plant to put in front of it or, do some plants on it like this! https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/9-ways-to-disguise-your-outdoor-ac-unit/ reuse some old shutters too ( not this color)