In order to suggest specific plants, I need to know what part of the country you live in. There are no shade trees it seems. I would take down the two shrubs at the front of the walk, including the purple one. Sorry. You can get the purple back elsewhere. They are overbearing and there's no symmetry. At the right corner of your home, not too close where the roots will damage the foundation or branches at maturity will touch the house, place a medium sized ornamental tree. At front, left corner, behind the mailbox ( you need a bigger, more updated one), maybe 5 feet to the right, place another tree. Pull out all the plants that are along the house and replace with evergreens, box woods? Just depends where you live. I would also pull out the white ground cover near the wall, just on the right, in order to achieve symmetry. I would paint the cream stucco a shade of gray darker than your roof and keep the trim white. Also, a new handrail would help freshen up the entry.

Tess, I hope I'm not too late with the following advice. Don't ever paint brick. Your house is a simple design, exterior wise. Paint wont fix it. What's missing is a designed garden. Even the simplest brick house can look like an inviting, lived in home when it has a structured garden surrounding it. For less than the price of paint, invest in a landscaper to design a garden that will soften and greatly enhance your homes street appeal ...and add many $ in value. Painted brick detracts from value and has to be repainted periodically, defeating the purpose of brick, which is, no maintenance. Besides, your house, painted white or cream as has been suggested here, would stand out in the street like a proverbial sore thumb. Trust me, landscape, starting at the street boundary and leave the bricks alone. Good luck.

You need light and bright. Being rented is tough. First change out the drapes with to the floor length. Cream with a horizontal stripe of brown to match or furniture. This will 1. get rid of the horrid things hanging there 2. pull the initial visual to that wall instead of the floor. Tall and high colors ( mango, aqua, yellow) decorations on your mantel with shorter cream and brown items. Then a large square table in the middle, painted distressed cream, with high color items setting on it. DIY project or Ikea. Green is the number one calming color, just don't let it put you to sleep. :)

Bronan, if you are over 13 and under 21, then the possibilities are really fun with black wood furniture in a room that could be set up with a ballet barre, or used as a dance practice studio as well as a bedroom! Since the floors are dark, you will need to keep the walls light, Usually in a bedroom you start with the colors in your bedding. If you want a new look, perhaps you could start with a pretty floral like this, paint the wall where you will put the head of your bed a deep coral pink to match the bedding and all the other walls a pale pretty coral too. room a soft, soft pink, and hang soft pink drapery panels http://www.target.com/p/threshold-multi-floral-comforter-set/-/A-14982101#prodSlot=medium_1_13 The coral will pop with your black furniture better / a good one that makes your skin pretty in the light - this one for a headboard wall to test - http://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW6878-animated-coral/ this one for the other 3 walls . . a white with the same coral undertone - http://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW6609-touching-white/ If possible, you might hang drapery rods on the mirror wall, so you can hang (with this bedding) white drapery at both the window and on each end of the mirror - it will make it feel a lot softer in the room if you treat it like a window. You can follow watch for on sale drapery until you can get a lot that is the same. Put the rod at the same height over the mirror as it is over the window. You might paint an inspirational quote at the top of the mirror in the dark coral (using a stencil) so that you visually fill the space between the top of the mirror and the top of the window. You could get a sample size of pale green paint the color of the green in the bedding to paint an extra piece of furniture that you need that isn't quite right. A little desk or vanity, or even a round end table or a bench for the foot of your bed. Hope this looks like an interesting option to you. Later, you can go for graphic black and white bedding and put hot coral pillows on it with the same paint job and curtains and get a whole new look with just new bedding.