SFGate

olldbobbi There was an ideabook this morning on the feng shui way to paint your front door, in case you're interested it said "Painting your front door green is said to bring growth; red can bring wealth; blue, relaxation; and brown, stability". And I think you're right, paint will go a long way to improve the looks of this cute home. I think the white trim is good, but do paint the front door. Remove all the tired landscaping and plant colorful flowering plants of different heights and colors. I'd lose both those trellis things, they're not helping.

cohoek Hi, I'm wondering if the color is the problem with this house, I think it might be the shape, it looks very flat. I would first try to do things that don't cost much. What if you made 2 horizontal white posts under your "porch"roof corners to the ground? You can hang plants on them in the summer. I think you need some vertical stuff happening.
Even cheaper, an evergreen high plant or tree to the right of your door. Someone started with the white rack, but thats too near the door and needs to be much higher. I think you might find your solutions with plants, maybe some rhododendrons( they stay green)to the left of the door, great combo with red brick and white. What plant is growing in the righthand corner? Its in the wrong place there, but might be good to the right to the door. I would lose the rack though too dominant, Try getting some wire trellisses they're much nicer, you see the plants instead of the trellis. I kind of like the picket fence but maybe cause every girl dreams about a house with....To bad the fence doesn't start at the corner of the house though.
.Maybe you should open the blinds, your houses eyes will open. In general you need more "curb appeal"

creeser I agree with cohoek about the posts. My parents had a similar overhang over the front door of their house and we added columns and it made a world of difference.
olldbobbi is right, both of the trellis need to go. The one on the far right is too big and the one by the door is giving a feeling of falling apart, though it may be made like that.
And yes!... a fresh coat of paint on the fence, a lively color on the front door and I think it will be cute as a button!

rhowe1 I would certainly paint the fence white and the door red, but if I were you I would not paint the trim around your windows. What may help too is adding some colorful plants and landscaping a bit instead of regular green shrubs.

SAS Consults / SAS Designs Just a few quick thoughts for you. Painting the door would be a very good move and "columns" for the porch as stated above would be helpful. Is the addition on the left a different color brick? I am not a fan of painting brick but for more unity that may be an option.

My thoughts on the landscaping would depend on a few things. Do you need the fence? If so I would say then you should paint it and potentially add an arbor where the walkway comes through it. Is the tall privacy fence on the left part of your property or the neighbor's? If it is yours then I would definitely paint it and use some plant mateial to soften the "wall of wood" that it is right now.

One idea that would definitely give the house a lot more charm would be to install a set of low retaining walls to either side of the door to hide the concrete foundation and overlay the concrete steps with the same type of material either natural stone or cementitious pavers. I would not go with brick for this as you would potentially be introducing a third color. If you do this make sure to put a sealer on the concrete foundation first or use Ice and Water Shield to keep moisture away from foundation.

A set of decorative fixtures on either side of the front door would also help to give more character.

If you have more questions, I am willing to help.

orangecamera In addition to the other suggestions, how about window boxes? Planted with red petunias, the will tie in nicely with your new red door, and attract hummingbirds.

Also, think about replacing the house numbers when you paint the door. There are so many choices. To up the cute factor, I can envision handmade ceramic tiles.

elklaker Would you consider painting the brick? It appear that the brick on the main part of the house is different from that on the left. I see a light putty to complement the roof and just about any color for the front door. The idea of posts is also great to add importance to the front door area. Very cute home.

Home Preppers Cute house! Yes, paint the fence. Remove lattice peices. Paint the door a color. Red is good-- but mutted blue, green or purple would be better. Not too bright of a color though, because brick is sort of a washed out color. The small window on the left side looks lonely. Try two white shutters with flower box here. Maybe a trellis on the wall to the right of it or some other lanscaping with height. I don't like the idea of coloumns at the front door, but it does need something, so I think brackets might look nice. It also could use some landscape. Use lots of color in the lanscape. Keep trim white.

Banarsi Designs Painting the white door would definitely help. Give the door a fun contrasting color of your preference. As some other posters mentioned, painting the fence would also be nice. White is too plain of a color... the house is very cute, actually similar to ours but it needs a little bit of SPICE ;)

orangecamera I second Home Preppers' bracket idea.

Dar Eckert Cottage portico
Cottage and Vine
Ditto on the white trim.

hmschoolmom Many great thoughts have been shared for this darling house. I would ditto columns to support the porch, And evergreens on either side of the door as a vertical in the meantime. Large black house numbers to the right of the door. You could also put carriage lights at the side of the door and nix the porch light as a future thought. Ditto on removing the trellises. In the spring, window boxes with flowers would be awesome as would a bevy of wild flowers on the outside of the picket fence. That would soften the effect of it not being placed at the corner and keep the cute cottage look.

Home Preppers love the above pale blue/green door and portico!

Alejandra Millsap Thank you everyone for your suggestions!! I love them! can't wait to start working on it :)

Alejandra Millsap One more question, the tall fence to the left is our as well, should I paint it? and if so what color do you think would compliment the house and the whole thing?

Home Preppers If you leave it natural, it might look out of place. If you paint it white, it might over-power the other details. Any chance in replacing that one front piece with a picket fence? I'm assuming the higher fence goes back along the side of the back yard. If you don't want to replace it, I would just leave it until everything else is done and see how it looks. Maybe someone has a better suggestion

Home Preppers I looked a the picture again. It looks like there might be a gate there. How about replacing it with an arbor with a picket gate?