kellysultemeier Great house with good bones. A quick, easy fix would be to add window boxes under the upper windows. This would break up the siding. Also, cut back or switch out the plants in front of the bottom windows. They are too mature and cover the window making the house look bottom heavy.
houssaon Looks like they added the shed portion of the second story to the house. Usually when this is done it doen't extend all the way out to the front wall. Since they did, it makes the white clapboards overwhelming. If you can paint the siding, I would. A darker color will make the facade recede.
carolannr Looks like the shed dormer on top overhangs the window wall on the bottom. The only way to make it seem less overbearing on top is to use a color with as dark a value as the brick on the bottom - perhaps something that matches the roof. Removing the overgrown greenery in the front will open up more bottom space and give it more balance. How about some lower ground covers with an occasional flowering shrub on the ends along with a lite post near the walkway? A bright pop of color on the door will also draw the eye to the center of the house and less on the house as a whole.
Suzanne Eder Take a picture of your house, print it on plain paper. Then use a magic marker to darken the siding. You can make several copies and use different colors to see what the effect is.
Leigh Durand Love the style of your home! I think you should paint the white clapboard a softer colour , like the taupe around the door, so it is not so predominant; prune back the bushes so they don't cover the windows and double the width of the front walkway. Your brick appears to be red, so I wouldn't paint the door red... paint it yellow or white and paint the storm door the same. Add two urns beside the front door and plant for seasonal colour. You should upsize the light over the door for more impact. Where is your house number? Add numbers where the mail box is now and lower the mail box.
drnd There are some very good ideas here. The upstairs windows are twice the size of the downstairs but they, unfortunately, are placed in brick and cannot be opened up w/o great expense. Adding widow boxes that have some cascading plants, like ivy,petunias, etc. will bring the two floors closer together. (Psst, no one will know if they are artificial ivy plants. Sometimes window boxes on the 2nd floor are difficult to maintain.) After cutting back the tall bushes in front, think of hanging some spider plants at the corners of the house or in the front window. They grown well everywhere but do not seem to take up much space.
jagood It seems like your house has an English cottage front door extension that has been put onto the facade of a house that has a shape like a salf box. I'm curious as to the materials of the front door extension siding. It looks different than the upper floor siding. Is it brick that has been painted? Perhaps the front door extension is original and the upper floor added around it? Are any of the materials vinyl, including the windows?
Since the front door extension is English cottage in feel, perhaps you should try to go with that theme. As mentioned above, paint the upper siding and the front door extension siding the same darker color to deemphasize the difference between the brick and siding. Paint roof trim on front door extension and upper story roof trim an even darker color (English cottage timber frame look), and use this same dark color on the first two rows of siding just above the brick to create a horizontal band. Increase width of upper window shutters (should look like they would cover window completely when closed. You also might want to beef up the trim under the windows to achive a horizontal emphasis. I'm not sure what color the shutters should be. It would depend on what color you chose for the siding and darker trim.
Replace the front door light fixture with a bigger one, rustic feel, hanging lantern style. Remove the mail box and put a mailbox on a post near the front steps - decorative of course. Put house address numbers where mail box is.
Replace front door - one with a small amount of glass that looks like a cottage door.
Remove the shrubs completely, and replace with an English garden feel - flowers and small shrubs mixed, with curving, meandering border, including the nice brick walkway. Lay out the boundaries with a garden hose.
decoenthusiaste Both siding jobs look poor to me. Can you afford a do-over? Maybe they were going for this look (#1) and then decided they needed extra upstairs space. Something didn't work out too well. Stone on your front door extension and a nice door (#2) could make a big difference! Even stucco like #3) would get "the look!" Then add an English garden (#4.) I'd want that upstairs extension, if necessary, done in the back of the house so the front could look like a proper English cottage.
teresablakeman get rid of the giant bushes that are blocking the front of the house. get a couple of pots with some bright red flowers during flower season and maybe a skinny evergreen bush on each side.
Just Jon Home Remodeling, Design and Build This has so much promise! I see Tudor style for this. Reside the front door siding and upstairs siding. Use Tudor style hardi siding that has stucco look and add dark brown trim boards vertically occasionally or some diagonal ones to add the English Tudor look. The front door area could be resided with beautiful medium to dark brown stone. A traditional light fixture and the brick is ok with tudor upper styling. Often I have seen tudor buildings with lower story in brick and upper story in stucco. Study tudor styling and ideas will come to you for the details. Hopefully you have the budget!
carbary I can't tell if the shrubs are boxwood or privet, but they should be trimmed down in the spring about a couple of feet. They will look ugly for a bit but by end of summer look fine. Then consider some color in front of the shrubs. bulbs planted in fall would be nice also monkey grass in front of bulb area is a good liner for the walkway and front of bulbs. Ask around people are always glad to give away monkey grass for the thinning.
Dani Pollard I would add a nice wide portico / porch to the front entrance. Bigger than the current one so that it makes the entrance symmetrical and evens up both sides (one side looks wider to me so it currently looks a little lopsided...) also I think wider shutters one the top floor would give a better 'balance'. I like the other posts and agree that a darker colour on top would pull the two eras together. Also I think you should cut back the hedges and maintain them below the bottom of the windows, so that the 'eyes' of the house are easier to see
Since the front door extension is English cottage in feel, perhaps you should try to go with that theme. As mentioned above, paint the upper siding and the front door extension siding the same darker color to deemphasize the difference between the brick and siding. Paint roof trim on front door extension and upper story roof trim an even darker color (English cottage timber frame look), and use this same dark color on the first two rows of siding just above the brick to create a horizontal band. Increase width of upper window shutters (should look like they would cover window completely when closed. You also might want to beef up the trim under the windows to achive a horizontal emphasis. I'm not sure what color the shutters should be. It would depend on what color you chose for the siding and darker trim.
Replace the front door light fixture with a bigger one, rustic feel, hanging lantern style. Remove the mail box and put a mailbox on a post near the front steps - decorative of course. Put house address numbers where mail box is.
Replace front door - one with a small amount of glass that looks like a cottage door.
Remove the shrubs completely, and replace with an English garden feel - flowers and small shrubs mixed, with curving, meandering border, including the nice brick walkway. Lay out the boundaries with a garden hose.