I see a nice specimen maple here and there as I am sure you do too. Nice looking house. You should have alot of fun. What kind of soil and sun exposure? Adele

Your friend probably doesn't want a big tree in the front, but it sure looks like it needs something big to balance out the house. How I miss the stately oaks of the past, gracefully shading front yards throughout the South ....

Perhaps instead some sort of arbor to give some structure to the area and provide a welcoming entrance closer to the street. Cover it with an evergreen vine like Bignonia (crossvine) or Clematis armandii. Then add a deciduous vine (like a purple clematis) to twine in with it and provide more color at a different time.

I see roses. Lots of roses. If it was for me I would widen the sidewalk; plant cottage style flowerbeds up near the house and leave the lawn for down by the sidewalk. Things like Garden Phlox, Shasta Daisies, Crocosmia, Hydrangea...

I also like a 'Hollywood' Juniper or two at the corners up near the house but they do better out on the coast. I'm not sure how well they would do in W-S.

I like Crape-myrtle's but I would only do one if it is a large one. To me the purple ones bloom for the shortest period the pink ones bloom longer and there is one white one that will bloom very late around here. New ones get developed every year so cultivar names are unimportant.

Another cool look for that house color would be one of the purple leaved Mimosa's (I know, a mimosa! shame on me but I like them).

Since I garden in the deep shade when I see full sun exposure I want to fill it with perennials and annuals that bloom all summer, others may want a shade tree.

I see magnolia trees in the front. Something that will provide lots of shade to that front yard. As a second, I am with John on the mimosa trees...there is no shame in liking them even if they spread like crazy. A house of that stature needs large trees in front, IMHO

Mimosa is a trash tree that only blooms for a short while, is one of the LAST trees to put out leaves in the spring and has no fall color. And it is considered one of the top ten invasive plants in the southeast. Y'all can do better than to suggest that!

So many other worthy trees to choose from! Scarlett oak (Quercus coccinea) is a fast growing native oak with gorgeous fall color (hence the name). Yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea) is an underused native tree that is quite unique. The neighbors probably won't have one and it will get lots of attention.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cladrastis kentukea

Love the house and I have to agree on the roses and widening the sidewalk. I'd do the opposite of TJ by putting a 4' or wider border at the street, another around the house, and a little lawn in the middle. Buddleias can be limbed up like small crape myrtles and spaced unevenly across the streetside border. The leaves on some around the Triad area are still green now even after all the cold lately. They would give you some sense of setting the house back from the street without obscuring it.

So many better "unique" choices than mimosa....snowbell (styrax), sourwood (oxydendrum), serviceberry (amelanchier), buckeye (aesculus), silverbell (halesia)...the list goes on. And you can almost never go wrong with a dogwood or a redbud. There are some really excellent newer varieties of both that will knock anyone's socks off (and certainly beat mimosa any way you cut it).

Yes but - the purple or red leaved form of Mimosa is slower growing and tends to flatten out like a Japanese Maple and the purple-y see through cast it would give up towards the back would look great with the house color. You don't grow them for the flowers but for the leaf color.

If that was the effect I wanted, trianglejohn, then I'd use a japanese maple - you'd at least get some good fall color and it would leaf out earlier in the year.

mbuckmaster has some good ideas. I like the 'Forest Pansy' redbud (have it myself), but it only does well in full sun and the fall color is not that good.

Your friend will rue the day he/she let you plant a mimosa tree in his/her yard. They spread invasively and he'll call YOU to pull the hundreds of seedlings sprouting in the lawn and flower beds every spring. Do yourselves a favor and do not plant this tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mimosa - Exotic Pest