As for the lawn, knowing your zone is meaningless. Zone 5 runs from Maine to the Aleutians. We need the name of the town where you live. That tells us more about your soil and climate than the USDA zone does. I'm going to assume you're going to trim that tree up so people can walk under it and stand upright. It will still cast so much shade that only fescue will grow under it. You could have Kentucky bluegrass in the sunlight, but only fescue will work under that much shade. Now is not a good time to seed, but the alternative is weeds. I would encourage you to understand that seeding now is a waste of time, effort, money, and hope. If you spent the effort, you're going to be disappointed in July when it is all weeds, anyway. Suck it up for now. You can fix it right in August. Seeding in the fall gives the new grass time to mature before the summer heat. Fill any holes you have, but don't use too much soil. Don't topdress 1/4-inch just because the yard is doing poorly. Soil is easy to fix. Spot spray Weed-b-Gon NOW to take care of the dandelions and other broadleaf weeds. Two weeks ago would have been better, but now is the next best time. That gives you time to evaluate the effectiveness before the summer heat hits when it's too warm to spray. Set your mower to the highest setting for the rest of the season. Tall grass is much healthier than short grass. It also helps prevent weed invasions. I would fertilize now with an organic fertilizer. If you want to use a synthetic fertilizer like Scott's, then wait until Memorial Day - no earlier. Summer watering is most important. The deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. With a lawn on a slope like yours, it will have to be done slowly to prevent runoff. You can measure 1 inch by putting cat food or tuna cans around the yard. Then turn on the sprinklers and time how long it takes to fill all the cans. That will be your watering time from now on. As for frequency, with temps lower than 70, deep water once per month. Mother Nature usually takes care of that for you. With temps between 70 and 80, water once every 3 weeks. With temps between 80 and 90, water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 90s, water once per week. Use this schedule as a guide, not gospel. The important thing is DEEP watering and never water every day (or 2 or 3). Deep watering makes this all possible. My watering time with my oscillator sprinkler on full sweep is 8 hours. That is pretty slow, but runoff can still happen. The time depends on your water pressure, hoses, sprinklers, etc. If you get the watering and mowing right, it's going to look much better for the rest of the season. Come August, write back to the lawn forum for advice on reseeding.

This brings back memories as I lived in the North Dallas area in the 60s. Your trees are wonderful. I would focus on making significant changes to the landscaping to update the exterior of your home. I do think getting a more MCM front door and painting it an accent color—teal or a bright green would be interesting and draw attention to it. Get rid of the wrought iron gate and put in one with cleaner lines. Get a new porch light in a rectangular shape. If you search this site for MCM exterior I’m sure you will find examples that appeal to your taste. Definitely get rid of the shutters! If the pole light in the yard isn’t functional and you don’t need it, I would remove it. Get rid of the ground cover under the large tree on the right side of the house. All of the landscaping is so mature it would be best to start over with a fresh design plan. You can work with one of the local nurseries to design and install new plantings. I think re-landscaping like some of the pictures Beth H shared would make a huge statement — just decide if you like the more structured looks or curving beds since either one would look fine with the house.

It’s a lovely home. I would suggest new garage doors, modern with frosted glass and silver frames to match your metal roofing. Update the exterior sconces, they are a bit too 90’s, and those at the front door are a little oversized. The door is unique, keep it but update the hardware to a brushed nickel, modern. It looks like a deep handle setback, so that will be a challenge, but Google searching it will get you what you need. Mid century resources may help, as a lot of doors back then had deeper hardware setbacks. Add some large colorful pots to flank the front door steps. if you can, remove the front walkway and adjacent foliage, and make it narrower to create interest to draw your visitors to your door. Update the landscaping with more formal specimens to go with the formal lines of your home. Consider large offset poured pavers with pebbles between for the front path, this creates visual interest and also mimics a stream experience that compliments the other side of your home. Good luck!

I think it would be worth the effort to separate the garage from the house…even change the roofline to a shed roof….with an enclosed walkway toward the rear from garage to house….if desired….but the entry should remain where the porch is …..as it is the one feature that gives the house its charm and character….by removing the big hedge and adding the right landscaping you can direct the eye to the porch area and entrance effectively…as is the garage will always look like an inappropriate add- on…accentuated by the different floor levels