It’s probably prettier when the landscaping is not dormant. You can replace with evergreens, and maybe a more attractive railing. 🙂

The white seems kind of stark to me. Perhaps a nice cream/beige would tone that down. Don't know if you can paint the windows, I'm guessing not? Then re-do the drive when you have funds. Landscaping is key, see what happens in the spring.

The white does seem stark and the garage doors if painted a darker version of the house color would make them less in your face. Sheathing the porch posts to make them look like one larger vs two smaller posts would look better IMO. That railing looks off with the house too. Still not an ugly house at all!

Go a season to see what's going to be coming up then come up with a plan for landscaping. In the meantime, it looks as if garage doors, roof, and siding need a good scrubbing. The house would be more inviting if porch wasn't boxed in. And driveway makes house look shabbier than it should.

Are you keeping the tan color? It looks fine and just needs a cleanup. A light cream trim, as below, especially on bay windows, might soften things. And a brick red door. Note the smooth driveway. And open porch. BTW, this is one of the most saved Houzz exteriors. Yours could look something like this.

Salem Avenue Renovation · More Info

Sage green, if you're changing exterior, has a warmer look than tan. But if you don't need to paint, then save budget for great landscaping and making porch more welcoming.

Refined Rustic Kitchen & Exterior Refresh · More Info

If you come back with questions about interiors, ask for "transitional" suggestions for your space. Antiques and vintage furniture can work very well in light, open spaces. Here's a big modern space with comfy old futon, antique desk and chair, throws and pillows that marry well with the space--lots of ways to do this. Do a search for: "Mixing antiques and vintage in modern house."

Avoid "remuddling" where you're trying to recreate what you're leaving and embrace the space you have now.

Santa Ynez · More Info

Wood front and garage doors, pergola if interested, house painted and have a landscaping designer suggest improvements and when budget allows, make some changes.

Lose the bay windows if you can,. At the very least paint the white angled wood beneath it to match the siding color. Maybe a new roof so it is all the same color, as it is quiet a prominent roof. Wood garage doors stained a brown color to compliment the siding. I assume landscaping will look better when it is in season but keep an eye on that as well as the type for foliage you have may tend to get wild.

When you fix the driveway, I would also look at adding underground drainage pipes to try to move some of that gutter/downspout water away from the garage door, specially the one between the garages.

I like the idea of the wall pergolas over the garage doors and the windows, especially if you can get some type of vine on the one by the garage.

If it's in budget when you replace the driveway, look into pavers. This one is a little busy with the fencing an arbor, but the driveway is very nice and warm. Pavers add a lot of charm to the house IMO.

Traditional Home Rebuild Ranch · More Info

Power wash the roof and garage doors. Assess the landscaping in the Spring. All houses look better on sunny days when the plants are green and flowering.

I feel your pain. Hard to transition from historic to contemporary. Find historic paint color combos. BM makes a lot - look here for one the closest to your siding, click on it and scroll to the very bottom. They have suggestions for colors that would look good as accents for your siding. https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/historical-collection

Redesign landscaping with 80% evergreen shrubs. They will hide and distract from the house.

A less stark trim color will go a long way for short money.

Great advice so far - agree that it just feels busy maybe bc of the high contrast between the siding and trim colors? If it were me, I would experiment with diff colors to soften the difference

• Definitely soften the trim color or change the siding and trim color. Stark white and mousy brown are not a good match.
• Consider having the roof power-washed to remove the streaking.
• I hate skylights (both the look on the outside and effect on the inside); YMMV but getting rid of that would help the overall aesthetics IMO.
• I don't like the thin stacked stone (or fake stone) veneer on the house foundation, steps, and matching retaining walls. I'd replace with real local stone. I would also replace the railing with nicer, real wrought-iron.
• Remove the storm/screen door completely, or get a wood one. Remove facade window screens during seasons when they are not necessary; they darken your windows.
• Do evergreen plantings in front of the section to the right that hangs over the bare foundation.
• I like the idea of the pergolas over the garage (and a climbing plant on them). Pergolas over windows make no sense to me. Maybe a flower box or two on the windows over the garage.
• If you really want to spend money, replace all siding to cedar shingles, upgrade all trim and window casing, replace garage doors with wood, and add copper gutters/leaders.

I actually think this is a very cute house with a lot of potential!

I would paint the white trim a more earthy color, go shopping for garage doors without arched windows, leaning toward something wood-like with character and rectilinear lines, then build the rest of your design around those garage doors. I would also remove the storm door if practical so that a front door with character can be more of a focal point. If you need a storm door, find a full view glass with wide frame in a color that supports the front door rather than contrasts with it.

And do something about the driveway afterward. Pavers are beautiful, but you could do plain, stamped and/or colored concrete if you don’t need it to be fancy once you get the building taken care of.

Rails might be OK with other changes, or you could look at options after everything else is done. One step at a time, starting with painting the trim and garage doors to see how it looks. You can even buy cheap paint and paint the trim and garage doors yourself if you just want to get a better idea of how it will look.

Another option is to hire a service like brick and batten to redesign your facade using their visualizers and designers.