Here's a link to find your hardiness zone. Just look for your city. Looks like you're probably in 7a. https://www.plantmaps.com/list-of-hardiness-zones-for-tennessee-cities.php

I would paint the railing white and add a handrail. I think the white draws more attention to the entry than black. The poor little evergreen is in the wrong spot! When you can get another shot of your house head on from across the street so we can see the entire yard. I'm sure you'll get good ideas. I'd paint the garage door a darker color, but not the color of the door. The shutters on the two small windows can stay. It looks plain without them. Keep us posted on your progress and good luck!

O.K. I'm back:)

I have a photo from he road. I couldn't get both small trees in the photo without going into the neighbors yard. There is another tree several feet to the left, also blooming white.

I think I completely agree with the idea that the oval door and the curves in the garage door do not match the rest. A blue door with a window is definitely going to be in our future.

The stairs behind our bush are actually a gray concrete that doesn't match the rest. Anything we should do with that after moving the bush?

It is worth noting that the two smaller trees were placed where they are due to a fairly constant flooding issue over the driveway and the surround yard...still working on that :/

Celerygirl, that image you drew up is amazing. I have a strong feeling we'll be following that very closely. :)h

Everyone thinks the small evergreen should go? Where should it be moved to? Note the powerlines to the right, and more are just above the road but a few feet into the yard running over it.

Again, a huge thanks to everyone who has commented. :)

Remember when you plant, plant for the mature size of the plant. So if a plant will be 5' wide, plant it 3' away from the house or walkway. Don't hide your house with bushes!!

Same for trees. Plant for their mature size.

Look at traffic patterns around the house. It would be awesome if your steps to the front door went both ways down to allow for walking around the house from either way.

Plan walkways thru the yard with plants on either side.

The usual planting is in 3s and triangles. These are pleasing to the eye.

Close group plantings mean less weeds and less water evaporation. But, the first year, you will have to water, a lot!!

Usually plants follow the 3 year plans....first they sleep, then they creep, then they leap!!!

Mulching thickly will also help prevent weeds from getting a foothold.

Garden shops can usually help you with a landscaping plan, but a landscape architect will be the best.

Excellent draw up Groveraxle! I'm not sure I'll have the budget for so much stone, but if I did that would do a lot of the look.

Thanks that that information Kathi. I'll definitely keep all that in mind when doing our plantings.

How is everyone doing this excellent sketchups? Is there an app or something?

Michael, I use Photoshop.

The railing is the element that screams, "Change me!" to me.

Thanks Groveraxle. I have no photoshop skill, so I guess I'll leave it to the pro on that one. :)

Violetsnapdragon, absolutely. I don't like that railing at all. It was just slapped on to make the house easier to sell. Restyling it or changing it completely is definitely on the to-do list.

Michael, I had the same picture window you have, and we changed it out to 3 double hung windows. It made a huge difference to the look of the house.

I forgot to mention: paint your downspouts so they disappear against the brick.

Would you consider rebuilding the front entrance to have the steps come straight out towards the street and down to a generous landing at the bottom with the walkway then going off to the right? It would allow for a deeper (front to back) planting bed between the walkway and the house, perhaps 6’-8’ deep. It would also remove the look of a barricade across the front door which is currently so disconcerting.

@NHBabs, rebuilding the front entrance would be a great idea. I'm not sure I have the know how to do it, unless I just built a wood deck overtop the concrete one. I'm not quite familiar with working with concrete.

Grover!! Great job. Now it just needs a chair and a dog!!

Excellent workup Groveraxle. Looks great, but that deck would actually be about 2.5 or 3 foot high...It's a pretty high couple steps up there. I guess the idea would be to have steps coming down to a flat platform then?

It would be great to have somewhere to actually sit out on the front.

I didn't have any deck chairs on hand, Kathi, but I have plenty of dogs. I also added a step. You would have to calculate how many steps you need, Michael, but a wide flat deck like this wouldn't require handrails.

Generally, you do not want to plant trees directly out in front of your house. You are wanting to spruce up the front of the house, but the white tree and evergreen will hide the house when grown.

Grover, thank you for making me smile!!

Hey guys. I'm back. We've started implementing some of the changes suggested. Completely reworked the foliage. Moved many bushes, added some rhododendron and azaleas. We're also planning to have the flower bed step out in front of the stairs, then again before the driveway and work in a walk path, eventually adding a paver barrier around the entire garden. Also added a hanging pot.

Next, we're hoping to replace the door, remove the shutters and handrails, probably building new ones.

Any thoughts on a particular door to use?

I would make the walkway wider and have the stairs go both ways down so you can get to the side of your house without walking around. Make a walkway on both sides of the front door.

Paint the part of the gutters that are on the brick the same red so they blend in.

Remove the shutters. They really are not adding anything.

Remove the large bush that is blocking the stairs from being seen from the street.

I would plant a tree about 20' out from the large window and 20' out from in between the two windows on the other side.

Put your walkways in first, then plant around them.

You can go a little wild with the front door. Red, any color blue, some have used yellow, turquoise. What would make you smile when you drive up to your house?

I can't really do a walkway to the left as it would only really lead to a dead end (the side and back of the yard is completely fenced in with no gate). But, we have considered remodeling the steps to come off the front as well.

We actually have some trees out front, behind the camera point. One large tree, a tiny evergreen that is still growing, and farther behind those, two peach blossoms a bit. It will covered the house a bit eventually, but that is kind of the idea. We want to block out some neighbors and like the in the mountains feel (we live in a valley despite being able to bell form the photos).

I'm thinking a blue door with a small square window...but aside form that I haven't been able to find exactly what I'm wanting.

You're getting there, but before your landscaping gets too settled, can you go to a small nursery to come up with a design plan? Your beds could definitely be much deeper than you made them, with thick, taller-than-the-others foundation bushes closest to the house. Curved beds will contrast with all the straight lines of the ranch and brick.

Note the tall evergreen at the corner. The plantings you put in do help, but they're too random and won't get you close to what celerygirl's plan shows. Ditto on your tree way out on the lawn. What you want is deeper, denser front. The goal is to integrate the landscaping with the house itself. In that vein, very dark, almost black mulch will look better.

Also, for the inside, get straight drapes and add tall plants at what looks like a sunny window. This will give you "landscaping" inside and out and connect the two.

We're actually planning on making the bed much deeper. We have the mulch but haven't had the time. :)

It's going to round from the corner like the picture above, bump out at the porch, and probably come out again next to the driveway.

The rhododendron we chose should eventually peak to 5' tall and 5' wide, so eventually, they'll be rather large. Went smaller to save on the upfront cost. We're hoping to plant further in front of them with a smaller mid row, and eventually a small flower coordination in front of that, but it will be later. I have a doodled up plan but not good enough at photoshop or anything to depict it :P

We were also limited by gas and water lines running to the house in that area, so we have to work around planting growers on top of those.

Some other photos of ranches with dark mulch and curved beds. If you have plenty of sunlight, ornamental grasses can add colors and shapes to balance out other greenery.

We only get sunlight there in the evening (we're facing NW actually). So we get evening sun only, which did limit our selection a bit I would think.

I love that bottom photo you posted Housegal200. Those stairs really help the look.

Before you get too far into the landscaping, you need to address the steps and walkway. I'm willing to bet you will not be able to remove the handrail if you keep the steps the way they are now.

Home Depot has a decent not-too-expensive door that comes in lots of colors and would suit your house:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Builders-Choice-36-in-x-80-in-Left-Hand-Cordovan-5-Lite-Clear-Glass-Painted-Fiberglass-Prehung-Front-Door-with-Brickmould-HDX161746/204309598

The handrail is just bolted on. It was a quick patch job the previous owners did to move the place quicker. It's literally 3 little bolts.

I would like to do the stairs now, but I think that's going to be a year or two down the road. We still have to repair the back patio, re-roof the shed and fix some rotted boards there, fix some cracked joists and a few other bigger projects first. Just throwing some quick fixes out right now when we get a few minutes, but going back to do the stairs is definitely a long term plan. I'm pretty good at moving landscaping around without damaging it so a temp patch isn't too much trouble for me.

This house was definitely a fixer upper. We're actually a year in :/

But, most of the big things are done.

I really like that door. I'm a bit worried the windows are a bit close to the handle though? Security wise.

I actually like the handrail, but paint the wood portion semi-gloss white.

For doors, think:

Maybe?

Hey there! A little bit of contrast in colour might be refreshing.

you could consider painting the tiny shutters white or could go bold & match garage shutter paint to same. bold colour for handrail.

landscape definitely will spruce it up.

you could consider replacing shingles with a diff colour if they are old.

good luck!

Daisy would like you to build a ramp.

O.K. I think you win. Might move up building on that deck :p

That looks really good. That door is about perfect too.

Grover, what an awesome layout!!

Yep, thats a winner right there! love the steps going straight up to the door! and then you can do a narrow bed inside the steps and a larger one in the foreground. Low sun areas might do well with some tall grasses.. just a thought.

http://www.plclighting.com/products.php?plc-1-light-outdoor-fixture-dorato-collection-2240bzled&cPath=22&lCsid=1a77220ecff5ac4f5a59b7ec5b234055

http://www.plclighting.com/products.php?plc-sullivan-s-exterior-wall-lite&cPath=22

Michael says: The handrail is just bolted on. It was a quick patch job the previous owners did to move the place quicker. It's literally 3 little bolts.

Nope. Betcha they added the handrail because it was required by code and they couldn't sell the house at all without it. So you can remove those three little bolts, but don't let your mortgage or insurance company catch wind of it.

As for the windows on the door being close to the handle, that's what double cylinder deadlocks are for.

I love the rendering without the shutters and the new front porch! Great job as usual, Grover!!

I think a tuquoise door would really look great on that house. I'd avoid anything in the red family because it will just clash or not be seen. So far, your changes are good! Groveraxle comes up with some terrific ideas!