A more interesting door color. Paint the window frame on the door to match the door. Remove the bin. Power wash the stone. No wreaths. One wide doormat. Agree with planters outside the railing - possibly 3.

Move the railing to the left edge. Replace the door with one that has side lights instead. For now put any plants on the outside of the railing even on the steps.

Meredith, it looks like your use of rock salt is rusting the iron railing and eroding your steps. You might consider a non-salt deicing substance next year. That said…painting out the white grid on your doors will be a first step. And using rustoleum paint to refresh the paint on your railing. Black. Then, a double sized welcome mat for your door. You could do a HUGE pot at the bottom of your steps. I would do a square black planter, or a tall one. You should plant according to the “rule:” A Thriller, a Spiller, and a Filler. Something tall, something that will spill over the edge like an ivy, and something that will bush out a fill the space. I tend to over-fill my pots at first, then…as things grow, transplant so that they aren’t overcrowded. Colorful! If you like, you could also have a grouping of three different sized pots arranged together in that spot at the bottom of your railing. Have fun with this. I change out my pot arrangements and planting scheme from year to year. I don’t recommend any plants for you as I have no idea where you are located…except that you obviously enjoy a hardy winter!

My suggestion is getting rid of the railing that is there and adding some sort of simple wood fencing at the edge of the landing. That would give space to add potted plants to the left side of the door. If a hand rail is needed it can be added to the wall on the right.
I’d also suggest painting the trim around the door windows and possible the strip down the center of the doors a darker color like shown in the previous posters pic.

Put the planters at the bottom of the steps then they do impede the entry. Yes to removing the saly winter pretty much done now. I dislike wreaths except maybe at Christmas. The rest I need a pic of the whole front of the house , curb appeal starts at the sidewalk when you enter your property .

Thank you! This is great- I never thought of any of this!
To answer some questions, the doors are fairly new- we wanted to do sidelights but the previous double doors were sized in a way that it was impossible without incurring a huge expense. So we just got new doors.

The doors have always looked off to me, I think the white trim was part of the problem. I can paint that. I can paint the double doors a better color, but I feel like I need to paint that silly light blue stripe over the garage first. I think we’re getting that done over the summer. What would a good front door color be?

I can repaint the railing. It is a little rusty. I never thought about replacing the light post, but that seems like an easy fix.

Regarding planters, it looks like the consensus is 3 planters on the right side. Can I do fake? I usually kill potted plants and forget to water them. I tend to buy a big flowering pot in early summer and it’s dead by July. I usually buy a big mum in the fall.

I can remove the box. I see what you’re saying about the salt ruining the stone. I don’t have a power washer. Can I use something else?

I don’t love wreaths either. I just felt the windows needed something. When I bought the doors, I considered panes, but didn’t think it went with the look of the house and the existing windows. I wish I had consulted Houzz before I bought the doors.

Here’s a pic of the house.

Thank you!

Instead of only painting the blue strips over the garage door, perhaps you can consider filling the gable area with natural looking shingles as well as the strips below the 2 windows and enlarge the window frames and continue the frames along the single columns below.

I show an architectural detail by adding a pergola above the garage door and a finishing box under the bay window. Then paint the garage door, pergola, and all trim white.

Lisedv's rendering is great. My favorite thing about it is the new plantings in the front bed. Notice how a lower but fuller set of plants opens up the entry, and adds a ton of polish at the same time.

Wow, that rendering is amazing. Adding the shingles like that probably wouldn’t be terribly expensive. Although would they need to be stained and restained more than the regular exterior wood siding?

I’m open to adding more plants to the front- and I love those little ones Lisedv put on the side of the walk.

I have 3 mature holly bushes in the front. I’d like to keep those, but am open to adding more. Could I work with what I have? I’m
In southern New England.

I don't think it would be too expensive to install the shingles. You can look into it, you have different options from natural wood shingles to manufactured ones in different materials.

For the the front flowerbed, go to your local gardening centre and they can guide you for what you can do to combine your existing plants with new ones. If you're not a gardener, ask for low maintenance plants.

My first suggestion is to clean and then paint your siding. Looks like the paint is peeling. I do like lisedv's rendering. That should give you a good idea of what your house could look like although I think I would handle the front door differently. Might suggest a single door instead of a double door but will suggest sidelights also. Would suggest a 3/4 lite or full light door with full lite sidelites to better coordinate with the windows. Good luck!

If you want to keep the holly, ask a gardening center about whether they can be moved easily. The holly closest to the steps kind of looms over the walkway and makes it feel crowded and dark. If you could move under the bay window, between the other two (where you have some deciduous shrubs), you would gain a strong background foundation. Low plants in front curving to the walkway would be open and welcoming.

I would paint the doors and trim all one color to make it look more like one cohesive door…the white trim in the middle makes it look like two single doors put together? than add flower pots at the base of the stairs.

Quick mock up…

Do you actually use both doors? I'm guessing not. I would replace the right side door with a sidelite, custom-sized if necessary. Or...if that's cost prohibitive, maybe remove the knob on the existing door so that it functions as a sidelite. Then lose the wreathes and repaint (I'll leave the color suggestions to others), and finally put a big potted plant in front of the sidelite next to the wall.

btw, you can probably rent a power washer from a hardware store. Don’t hold it too close or too long on a spot. But if the house paint is peeling, it will peel it more.

Wow, why have I never thought to put two plants at the bottom of the stairs?!?!

I will definitely paint the middle white part between the two double doors. Should I also paint the white part around each window?

I can’t change the doors (they’re only 3 yrs old) or do sidelights due to the preexisting size of the doors. We tried.

Transplanting the holly is a great idea but after watching a few YouTube videos, it looks fairly difficult with a high failure rate. Maybe just remove the 3rd holly bush and add another bush in between the two hollys? I could always try to replant and see what happens. I have Teo female and one male bush. I don’t want to kill the male and then the females won’t produce berries.

I don’t think the cedar shingles are in the cards unless I win the lottery. I was probably getting the blue stripes painted this summer. I could probably achieve the same look with paint?

Do the simple obvious things first! So many good ideas here. Paint and plants.

Hi Meredith..yes you can paint the entire door the same color..it will make such a huge difference. So happy you have a couple ideas to really make it look inviting! please post any changes we would love to see the progress.

Thanks! I have plans all Saturday, but I’ll paint on Sunday!

I would plant some colorful azalea bushes where one or more of thhe other bushes are. I would take the container off of the porch and put some colorful shrubs or nice big plants on the sides of the porch and also along the walkway. I've added some pics of azaleas from Pinterest below.

I think an azalea is actually in between the hollys. It doesn’t get very big though.
I’m pretty sure the holly in question is a male bush. I don’t think I should move it h/c there’s a good chance I’d kill it and never get holly berries on the female plants again.

A sick child means I’m home from work today. I’m going to paint the door trim. I know ppl said to paint the white trim between the doors, but should I also do the white around the windows?

Paint all the trim around the doors and middle beam I would paint the trim around the windows too…your wreaths will look so pretty without that white trim.

Here are two options..both work…you could start with the middle beam and window trim…see what you think….I love the entire thing painted such a dramatic look.

Thank you! I think I like the entire thing painted too.

Going to start with the trim and middle piece though. Taping now, then I’ll prime 🤞

Thank you all for your help!

Good idea. Baby steps. Start with the piece in the middle then continue to door windows. Can you post a picture of the progress? :)

Here’s the trim painted.Shouid I do the white around the door?

First step is clean the stone pathway and stairs. Remove the weeds from the stone creveses. Fertilize the brown grass and new mulch. Add the plantar boxes flanking the door as shown in above mock up photos to draw attention to the doors. In the future consider painting the house white and new landscaping.

Good Morning..yes paint that trim around the door too..wow looks so much better already!

I think I would leave the white around the door and add other navy accents 🤔 maybe a navy planter where the recycle bin is?

I would paint the bottom white strip around the door navy, because to me the white all around the door looks too boxy. I would leave the other 3 sides of the trim white to add some life around the door. The rest of the door looks so much better with the white painted out.

Consider new hardware Handle for the front door…maybe a polished silver or brushed silver..

Both on Amazon…under $180.00 for double door sets.

I say no white trim around the doors. Look how beautiful!

Thank you! I think I’m going to start with just painting the bottom stripe blue and see how that looks.
I love the hardware suggestions. I’ll look into that.
I won’t be able to paint until Sunday, so I’ll post when it’s done.
I can’t believe how much better it looks with the trim painted. I had no idea I was supposed to do that. My neighbors are probably like “finally!”

Something else I would consider. Filling in that little walkway strip with pavers. Adding tall grasses and a few stairs against the house from walkway to driveway. :) regardless, looks much better already! :)

Okay, so I painted the bottom strip and repainted the black railing. I know I need to remove the plastic box, it was just heavy with the rock salt and I wanted to get a quick pic.

I left the wreaths up there as I realized I like the privacy I feel they give.

I think I should paint all around the frame?

Love the idea of tall grass. But pavers would be hard to diy b/c of the angles in that strip. Maybe crushed stone?

Yep still think all the white trim on door should be painted too….such a big improvement. I would consider painting the lighter blue gray stripes on the front of the house the color of the siding or dark blue to match the front doors.

Yes yo painting the white trim on the door.

Paint the blue stripes they look weird on the house

I would leave the white trim around the doors but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try painting it the same as the door. You can always paint it white again if needed :)

I’ll try to paint the rest this weekend! I wish I had this factory painted, I think I’m a pretty good painter, but this is surprisingly hard and not very forgiving. It looks fine from a distance though.

The blue stripes are hopefully going to be painted this summer the same color as the rest of the house.

Much better all painted!
I ordered a new front door lantern. It comes Wednesday!
I will get rid of that box and buy flower urns.

Nice! Good work.

Beautiful.

Love it!

Looks great!

Very nice!