You could use some help from the LD forum on this landscaping. Since you didn't pick the hollies and aren't attached to them, I'll be blunt: for my eye there's not much you can do with paint colours or house details to distract from the very unfortunate placement of those bushes. I'm not saying they couldn't be useful if you combined them with some other landscaping (the other forum people tend to be better at foundation planting issues than I am), but on their own at that height they... are unnecessary, to put it mildly. The house has a very nice foundation, nothing to hide. Do any similar houses in your area have no foundation planting with more greenery further out in the yard instead? I might be inclined to put such a hedge perpendicular to the house if anywhere in that yard, perhaps along the side property line. Cutting them and fleshing out the beds further into the yard with more plantings in front of them might help. I think they will sprout from below if cut back, but check that on the shrubs forum perhaps, or someone on LD might know. KarinL

There is an ensuing school of thought about shutters, that they must appear authentic, as if one could put them to use -- even if they are literally non-functional and would never be used. This school of thought discounts entirely that shutters have morphed to a non-functional, decorative use as a trim device. Sometimes, they are even perforated (as a corn crib would be) and would not have the slightest capability of protecting a window from weather. The net effect of using decorative (let's not even call them shutters anymore; they are "window-flankers") is that they provide a means of adding interest to an otherwise dull looking home. One might evaluate the finished appearance on the basis of whether they like the home better with them, or without ... and to heck with all those that are categorically against window-flankers under all circumstances for certain styles of architecture, or whether they are authentic. Still, one must be cognizant that window-flankers, in order to look right, must follow some rules of proportion and details, as all architectural elements do. Even the arch is not awesome in all circumstances. Wrongly applied, it can look very loopy and dorky. The purists about shutters will eventually be denigrating columns because they are no longer made out of bundles of reeds, as they once were. Get ready for it.

A deep crawl space? The crawl space looks deep enough for a finished walkout basement or a two car garage. The crawl space looks like the front door should be down stairs. The crawl space looks taller than the main house above. Seriously, that is a dirt floored crawl space under there? The side view with the siding being lower than the floor level of the front porch only adds to the wacky. So here is a wacky solution: lower the whole front porch deck 3 or 4 feet. Put steps up to the front door from the deck as needed. That will help balance the tiny house above with the giant crawl space below, reduce the amount lattice needed and the number of steps to get there. I'd also consider moving the stairs to the left side of the house as a switchback staircase instead of a single long run across the front and swapping out the lattice for horizontal boards between the deck posts.

Do you need the asphalt along the side of the garage? If not, dig it up and add some shrubs outside a lattice wall/box slightly higher thaan the eyesores. Paint the lattice white. More grass/greenery and less asphalt is always a win.