Ugh...I'm not tech illiterate, but I can't figure out how to get a picture IN the post. So, here's the inspiration house:

Here is a link that might be useful: Inspiration House

Here you go:

Our house currently:
{{!gwi}}

Inspiration house:
{{!gwi}}

Your inspiration pic isn't Tuscan. It's a mishmash of influences, including "American modern GARAGE (with faux Euro house attached)"

Certainly you can make the changes that you describe above. But, will this actually do anything for your home's curb appeal and long term value for the expense involved? No. You won't see that money back. If you're OK with doing it for simple personal preference, then it's your money. But lipstick on pigs doesn't fool anyone. Not that your home is a pig. It's not. It's a nice basic style that looks best when it embraces it's ranch/utilitarian style. There is a lot to be said for keeping it simple and authentic.

This is probably not the answer you want, but I think you should leave well enough alone. I completely agree with live_wire_oak: there is no way you can change the basic character of your present house with a few cosmetic changes. Maybe with a $200k complete redo, but that makes no economic sense. I've seen far too many homes where the owners tried to give it another flavor and ended up with some mish-mash of a house that didn't look like anything it was intended to. And, as far as Tuscan-style, my bias is that they look good in Tuscany, but out of character in most parts of the U.S. You've got a nice, standard American style home. If you want something else, consider buying something that was originally designed with the look you want.

Thank you, both. The reality is that we hadn't even begun to think about how much this idea might cost. We're officially back to the drawing board of how to spruce up our nice, standard American style home! Any thoughts?
Thank you!

The cheapest and most effective spruce up is paint. With your preference towards Tuscan influence, say a sandy gold or terra cotta. Architectural shingles can lend the very visible roof some character. Many are now available that help to reflect radiant heat and can actually improve the efficiency of your envelope. Modern American style and small lots has garage doors front and center, and making them attractive is a challenge. Painting the garage door the house body color and/or change out to one with more interest can do wonders. An new insulated garage door is a great feature if you spend any time tinkering, or if you just want to minimize cold/heat infiltration into your home. You might also investigate having your driveway acid stained to a brown or other earth tone. I'd match the roof and the driveway color families, personally. I'd also limb up that tree to get a better view of the home itself. It's shade is nice I'm sure, but it isn't doing the curb appeal any favors. There's "a new car'$ worth" amount of ideas that will help your home to be it's best.

I would think about how to make your front door "pop". As your house is now, the first thing you see is the garage and the height above that and the rest of the house is lost - especially the entry way. What pops out in your inspiration photo to me is more of the drama of the entrance and how it balances out the garage than the "tuscan" feel.

We are currently renovating a 1950s u-shaped ranch and one of the things we are doing to revamp the exterior is we are adding a gabled stoop to our entry to make it stand out (it's recessed off-center in the middle of the "u"). It'll help balance the u and it will break up the long roof line in the middle. For us, that one change will be huge for the appearance.

Anyway, doing something more like that would be more expensive than just a cosmetic update, but would go a long way towards updating and balancing the look of your house. Just a thought... Good luck!

I agree with the paint! If you love the more Tuscan feel, use more natural, earthtoned colors. To add more character, not necessarily Tuscan, you could put in pavers and change out your garage door. The driveway might be pricey but the garage door would be about $2,500-$3,000.

I agree with live-oak, I think a better "front" would drastically help your curb appeal--I can't see your front door entry. Perhaps just making that more visible and appealing would do the trick.

We have a 1950s rancher that we completely remodeled and tried as best we could to keep with some of the one-story, California rancher look. I think ranchers can't be Tuscan, IMO. But we went with a more modern feel, keeping the one story and the white color, but changing the roof and adding battens which are common in our neighborhood. While not necessarily your style, it gives you one option:

OLD:

NEW:

Here are some websites that I looked at for some inspiration on how to update the exterior of our ranch - hopefully just to see what you like and then think about what you can do... obviously some of these changes are much larger/more $$ than others.

http://www.remodelingcenter.com/exterior-landscape/ideas/ranch-style-home-ideas/

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1047/988237166_2577ab432a.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlanta/586054-ranch-style-homes-not-popular-atlanta-2.html&usg=__M77HJsnZGrJy3lSbCeoF3hIu3iY=&h=386&w=500&sz=146&hl=en&start=2&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=8qKmHsJ2IIG3SM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtraditional%2Branch%2Bremodel%2Bconversion%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3Dws2%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Disch:1

http://www.homerebuilders.com/ga/atlanta/custom-home-remodeling/gallery?cat=ranch

I was looking more for traditional ranch home remodels, and looking for smaller scale things I could do to update the feel of the exterior - such as the entrance gable/stoop, paint, changing the design of some of the front facing windows, etc. Hope this helps!

Another link I just found - this is somewhat of a similar style after they added a half floor. It looks like the dormer windows may be dummy windows just to add architectural balance. We considered this as well but our roof pitch just didn't make it work.

http://www.renewaldesignbuild.com/port_major_ranch.php

Thanks, aokat, for the links. Great info. We have gone back to the drawing board in terms of the outside of the house. We're thinking of taking the brick back to its natural color, choosing a new palette, and adding a gabled entry of some sort. I really appreciate the input!