Shutter's would be nice around the windows, extend the roof over the door and three windows or put a deck all in the front at the height of the dark brown on the bottom, Paint the front door in a bright third color blue, green or red. Then plant in front of deck. If extending the porch have furniture that you can relax with your neighbors.

Agree with paint, the front porch would be better bigger but.. how about wrought iron rails on each side of step fanning out? Hanging light from ceiling of porch? Planter under 3 windows with lots of color and hanging vine. How about a large planter with an arbor and vine for the left of porch in the corner to help fill in? Unless there is space to plant something tall, can't tell. If you paint all white have a fun color door! Monkey grass between walk and driveway. Good luck! Let us see the results

Thank you all for the suggestions and ideas! Don't worry - we will be installing REAL handrails and adding sides to the little porches. This was a foreclosure, so I assume the bank installed the "quick fix" for liability reasons.

I think we might start with painting all the trim white, and pressure washing the brick and vinyl siding to see how it cleans up. I love the ideas of window boxes and flowers between the driveway and sidewalk. Would add lots of color!

I would paint it all white including the brick, which is too dark and murky. All white would look fantastic. In the spring, colorful flowerbeds against that white would really stand out. Now everything gets lost in the murk of the brick. I would paint the trim dark gray and the door would be a rainboot yellow. Bright and cheerful.

I have a feeling that painting the brick the same color as the house, or vice versa will make the house look larger and more attractive. If you want to leave the brick natural, a medium dark taupe would look great, with bright white trim and a black or red door.

Would your mother-in-law like some window boxes that would allow her to garden by just working at the windows? It would also permit adding color that could be easily changed in time. I would suggest that for safety, you replace the stair handrail with something much more sturdy. If you get some money, it would be great to extend the front stoop to the left and fill in that corner with a covered deck for easy outdoor sitting.

I would paint the house a bright white, except for the brick trim at the bottom. Then paint the trim around the windows and front door a medium gray. Last, paint the front door a pretty shade of burgundy to pick up the color of the brick. Plant some pretty flowers between the driveway and the sidewalk, and around the palm tree. Kalanchoes are a great succulent plant that needs little water, spreads by itself and the flowers come in lots of different colors of pink, red, white and peach. That would be a great plant for this area!