Hope everyone had a great weekend! This is an update on our progress... We talked over the weekend, and for inspiration I kept looking over the photos that suero and roobear did for us-- turns out we are both really leaning toward staying with the white... Hubby thinks we should paint the shutters black and door as well, but I am not sure how I feel about a black door. I like the idea of a red door such as "Brick Dust" (Lowes- Olympic paint)or BM's country redwood and I would love to hear your suggestions on this. If we are going to stay with an all white house, I am looking for a combination that would really help the front porch to stand out there and say "Welcome". I would also love to hear which whites you recommend since the white currently on the house is one that I can't seem to locate anymore. It's called "picket white" which is a color wheel paint but it is no longer in their paint deck. I remember I tried to keep it somewhat soft and not stark white... a fairly close match might be SW Pure White but it's hard to tell. Our painter uses ICI (glidden) paint company so most likely we will be color matching to the more familiar/popular ones. I am prepared for this and I have my SW and BM fan decks ready not to mention the bags of swatches I have gathered from Lowes and Home Depot! However, If I am unable to find an acceptable ICI/Glidden white do you think it's possible to color match one? I am just not sure how that will work out with a white. Good news is that we are getting closer thanks all of your help and encouragement so I hope you won't mind sharing your thoughts once again on what you think would be a good combination (any brands specific color names would be great!) for the shutters, door, and a white for the body. I should add that we will be considering the stone, since it would be a nice touch, but depending on the cost it might not be an option for us at this time. For now, we have to work with what we have. Thanks once again!

To get suggestions here about landscaping, it ihelpful if you take photos to both the left and right of the photo first posted along with a little bit about goals, time, energy and interest in gardening. ddd’s sketch above is great and I love how it uses a wall or fence and landscaping away from the foundation to create a sitting area. But that isn’t useful if you live on a busy road or have no time for or Interest in gardening. So spend time thinking about how you might use your yard and look at a lot of photos or landscaping books to get some idea of what appeals to you. Maybe consult with a garden coach or landscape designer to get some direction or a design that you can implement as time and funds allow. Start with hardscape and utilities and then slow growing plants like trees.

Where do the doors go - into which rooms? Was perhaps the side facing the driveway meant to be the "front," entering into your front room/living room? Sometimes they placed houses in a way that might have made sense at the time, but don't anymore - or rural areas the house sometimes faces driveway instead since no one would be approaching from the front. I would not be spending money on adding on dormers and other stuff not original to the era of the house. Sorry, like it or not, its not a colonial or cape house.... but it does in fact have a charm or character of its own. Sometimes with an old house, less is more. Be careful you don't ADD to the visual clutter already there, and instead, you want to strip OFF the extraneous gack that is creating visual clutter - like the 2 extra porches on the driveway side! LOL - its like you have the orginal sunporch, then another porch was added on to that, then the third porch (with stairs) onto that! Do any pics exist of your house in the past? I wonder if there wasn't a porch on the side facing the street, with the roof attaching to the wall in that blank space above the door/windows and below the eaves. Rather than dormers, spend your money an open porch - need not span the whole length of the house, in fact it might look best just putting it on the right side over door + 2 windows to the right. Duplicate exactly the pitch and style of the other porch roof. I would make it an open porch, then your landscaping- flowering shrubs and ornamentsals in front of porch with inviting walkway from the street.

I looove that house. That yellow shade included. Those windows with the grid have a beach cottage vibe. I sure wouldn't replace them. Forget about changing the roof color: just put solar panels up there. Your electricity will pay for itself. The landscape needs work, though, to make it interesting. I think I would live in the house for a year or so and listen to what it says it wants. Maybe it could use a renovated bathroom or something else in the meantime?