I plan to connect the three blue spruce in the front with one bed of mulch and add two purple sand cherry for some color.

I only have a thumbnail picture of the before, but you can see how far we have come!

Are those TREES you have planted so near the house -- near the windows you want shuttered? Think how they will spread when they are full grown! I'd move them back and plant bayberry or yews that you can keep *under* the windows.

Changing the roof line on those two dormers makes a huge difference!

I should have added some more details about the front bed. I plan on planting some more shubs and perennials in the front garden and adding a stone/slate border. The trees that are there are:

- accent or dwarf blue spruce - it is almost full grown, so it shouldn't be a problem.
- weeping douglas fir - the nursery said it would double in height and stay relatively narrow. They also suggested we remove the top branch and make it more weepy, which means it would not reach the white part of the gable.
- purple fountain beech - this one is a tree and one I was questioning. I planted it off to the side at the corner of the house, figuring it would grow tall. There should be just enough room for the width, but I figured I could prune the width if it gets too full. I have seen these trees planted in the front of other houses and thought they looked nice.

What made you choose blue spruce?

I think it could add a little sizzle, although the white looks fine as well. Red/burgundy would look nice but to me those colors have become so expected they've lost their zing. How about teal?

krycek1984 - I picked blue spruce because I really like them and think they look nice against the reddish brown brick.

Peterdonald - Do you think we should paint some of the white areas? The door or other spots too? Thanks.

Don't do shutters. The style of the home with the casements is more contemporary and shutters would look odd to me. Proper landscaping will make the need for shutters unnecessary. I would highly suggest you get a professional to landscape your home or at minimum pay him/her to draw up a nice plan. You've done such a great job I would hate to see it cheapened by an amateur job.

Lastly, what is your roof? Do you know the brand and style?

My original thought of adding white shaker style shutters. I can appreciate the thought about shutters with casement windows. I had originally thought it would be nice to have more white on that side of the house to balance out with the garage.

I read somewhere that you shouldn't have a white garage. It draws too much attention to something you want to blend it with rest of the house. With that in mind I tried adding more beige to the garage and shutters.

Now for the red door, I tried a few colors. I found the really bright reds did not work but the darker reds were not too bad.

With trim painted red:

With white trim:

I am starting to think that perhaps I should not make any changes, but I would love some more opinions!

Thanks!

BTW - I purchased the roof from Home Hardware - it was black but I have forgotten the brand. I did search for quite a while because I think some black roofs can look a little blue in certain lights.