What climate zone are you in or where are you located? Can you take a photo that shows the entire front yard? I can't tell where you park or how guests walk to your front door. If you search Houzz for 'entrance gardens' you will see many examples of homes with wide paths leading from the street to the front door. Do you like to garden? You have a lovely house and would not want to hide any of the porch area so keep the plantings around the porch low. You can plant some taller plants at the base of each post but these should also stay low and not get higher than 3' to 4'. It looks like the garage may be in the back of the house with a fence along the driveway. You could have low growing roses along the fence and flower beds at the front of the house if you like to garden. Location and more pictures would help us to give suggestions for the garden.

Sorry forgot to attach photo,here it is:)

I like @kelly's idea of picking a lovely fresh color of paint for the door. You can then bring it down onto the stair risers. Either a solid color to match the front door, or go wild and add some decorative elements to the risers with stencils. Or think of staining the door a great color and coordinate the stair railings and risers. I have an idea book put together for just such project that might spark some ideas for you. http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/16700983/thumbs/Kathryn-Delany-s-Decorative-Stair-Risers

Hi there We recently built a house and for various reasons, we had to have the front door on the side of the property, rather than at the front. Now that it's built, we have ended up with a lot less space on the side for planting than expected and it's just a driveway. The door that's at the front is actually the laundry and so we have fenced it off (we also have a small dog who needs lawn). We have planted a couple of climbers to go up the trellis to cover the laundry door, and have planted a specimen tree (Michaelia Gracipes) which will have lovely flowers, plus the hedging at the front and we had planned to put reeds in containers up the driveway against the house, but I'm at a loss what to do with; a) the front garden as it just looks too empty and b) how to improve the street appeal and encourage visitors to come up the side, to the front door. The front house owns the drive, so we can do anything we like, but must allow vehicle access to the rear. Any suggestions (except renovating the house!) are welcome. TIA