Okay, there is something about building a home that no one ever talks about. TERMITES. Yes. TERMITES. They live and breed to take your breath, and your home and your investment away. Read all about them online, DO your due diligence. BEFORE you plan your landscaping, and after your exterior dirt is the way it will stay. If your budgeted expense did not include TERMITE RESISTaNT sheetrock(apparently a fairly new product, so it MUST be created for a need)... IF YOUR budget, did not buyTREATED LUMBER(just a deterrent, not a prevention) WHERE the plate meets the concrete.... IF you have peers and beam foundation, and your budget did not place a metal barrier(aluminum tin?) atop the concrete peer before the beams for the floor were installed, IF you saved money and used fingerjoint, or softwoods,(choose staingrade hard woods even if you want to paint it, termites will walk right over that in a fingerjoint paint grade window trim and take out that 'soft cellulose' and keep working around the hardwood that may be alternated or not in any given piece of window trim inside, for example) or sometimes called PAINT GRADE WOODS, on all your interior trim that comes in contact with the sheetrock and lumber. Before you choose spray on foam insulation, or batt insulation with PAPER(cellulose)on one side......teach yourself which one might be better for your environment. or if there are OTHER options......and how to try to not become the lead target for the next rainy season, or swarm of flying insects! ! Learn how to help yourself. It pays way better than your job does...... Most experts in their field, will never expect to think to tell you to avoid placing plants and shrub lines within the dripline or 2 feet(3 or 4 ft might be better?) of your home walls, and lumber retailers won't explain to you how great an idea it is to use a borate treatment on the lumber before you put it in your walls--- or your fence?? Others won't suggest to you that FILL DIRT might bring with it more than just WEED SEED, it has a small chance depending on the area, and potentially, can bring all matter of pests from grubs to ...termites.....as can the other earthen soils used to help construct a home...you could have options to treat or have the soil analyzed perhaps?? if you inquire? Those who are area professionals may have options for you to consider? Just 2 places that teach alot about dealing with the problem, but there are more out there and in videos too on greatly enhancing the main point: AVOIDING the problem.... https://www.domyown.com/termites-c-3.html or this: https://www.solutionsstores.com/ You can do this yourself? Just one idea is, and there are a variety of options, to create a barrier with fibpronil on the exterior perimeter of your home after the soil is settled...it makes a barrier for years, you do not want to disturb with digging up against your home, so wait till the ground is settled ---and it can degrade sooner with time if you live in a rainy season/area..Contact your local authorities if you need questions and service...they exist to help and make a profit, you can help them by being informed & knowing there is a balance of information and concern, but knowledge is for you there to learn in videos and many websites you can find if you go looking, look for the more recent headlines or news, so you don't miss the new things that they have now which maybe did not exist 10 or 5 years ago??.. ..You can purchase red button 'termite traps' , the directions tell you how and where to bury near your new homes perimeter, or old, you can purchase traps for your interior walls, designed to let you know if the pests get close to moving in--or if it's too late.......... Learn why and how to make the best decisions on keeping your home structure an UNINVITING place for these creatures. The new 'bait traps' are a great idea!! The Red button disappears into the tube if they have consumed the cellulose(their addiction)and you know you better get your perimeter protected if you have not.. One more proposal or consideration to plan carefully, don't plant vines on a pergola to root into your exterior siding... vines attract ants. Fireants, are a predator for TERMITES. As are salamanders......You don't want ants, or termites that close to your exterior walls. Those pictures of ivy on the old stucco walls of the castles, really are roots that make holes that let RAIN pour into your modern structure......when the plant is removed or disintegrates.. Take appropriate steps and stay diligent, this is one pest that can make you cry, with no odor, very little noise, and if you are seeing changes in the appearance of the inside or outside of your home or barn or tree house or play house...know what you are up against, so you react and create an ongoing plan, BEFORE you see the obvious signs. Thanks for sharing your journey. Spread the news that prevention is worth 100s of pounds of building materials, and hundreds of dollars of cure, for anyone that lives in a home, or builds a new home. It is very important.

I would get a new front door and lantern lights 1/3 of its height (add matching lights flanking the garage door instead of the motion spot,) add a walk out to the front curb, close up the windows on the garage door, and improve the landscaping with curved beds flanking the asphalt and walk. You should consider painting the dormers to match the roof shingles and recede. They are the first thing I saw, then the garage, and last your front door. That's backwards.

Really nice home and yard. Would NOT paint brick. That totally defeats its low maintenance purpose since as it inevitably would need painting again, it will look ever more awful as it gets to that point. Would remove and recycle the shutters. If you don't want them as a DIY project, you could sell them or donate them to Habitat for Humanity or your favorite charity thrift store. With your current siding (green?) that you're keeping, would you prefer white trim or a dark gray or a contrasting shade of the same color as the siding? Pick one and only one trim color and use it to paint all the painted surfaces so you end up with two colors in addition to your brick. As you change the windows, do add a wide board frame around them that you can paint. If you are adding pairs of windows in lieu of one larger window, you can add one horizontal board above and another below and vertical board on each side without needing to add vertical boards between them. Your posts could use some bulking up and they'll need to be painted your chosen trim color. You could also paint your fascia and gutter the same trim color. My personal preference for your trim color would be white and my second choice would be a medium/dark gray -- but your home should reflect your personal taste. Landscaping: If you have a trailer hitch on one of your vehicles and choose a time after a long rain, and/or if you thoroughly soak the soil around your shrubs, you can likely pull up your shrubs with little digging. (My brother's preferred method -- worked for him.) Rather than destroy the shrubs you have, consider moving them either ... setting them in a row along your back property line as a border or ... lining them up on one or both sides of your yard beside your house and, generally, in line with the front exterior wall of your house ( or back exterior wall of your house ) from house in a straight line to the side property boundary to create a green privacy fence between your front yard and your side/back yard. If there is a pathway you usually use already to get from front to back yard, add an arbor / gate at that point.

Just remove the shutters and see how that looks. I don't think painting windows with black is going to enhance the house--just adds another element and you do have a brown roof, not black. A much warmer white for the middle would work better with yellow stone and brown roof. Save $$$ for a beautiful landscape design to further beautify the house. But what you have is pretty nice right now. It's important in a newly purchased house to go a year before making landscaping changes so you can see how the plantings look in all seasons. It's great you have quite a few evergreens for year round color--and no leaves to rake!