
I knew after I cut back the spiraea that I had opened up an area that has a lot of possibilities. I knew that I should just finish those shrubs off, and everyone, so far, has confirmed that.
Since several gardeners have also offered some ideas on what to do with this space, I thought I would post two more pictures to show the space from different angles to get some more ideas.

Anyway, back to the view from the street. This area is open to the west and south. The garage wall faces west, the porch faces south, but the crabapple shades it some. Along the wall, there are several Fothergilla gardenii. You can't really see them in the picture, because they are just bare branches right now, but they are keepers. White "bottle brush" blooms in the spring, great fall color, dwarf, NEVER need trimming.
Also on that wall are two of three trellises that I tried to grow clematis on. One of the trellises fell down and is in the garage. I am ready to replace them and put something up there that is a little showier, a lot nicer. And the clematis never did that well. They tried to grow away from the wall probably due to the heat radiating off the brick and always got tangled up in the Fothergilla.

The rest of the plants... daffodils, a few tulips, some lily turf along the side walk, along with some sedum, and some daylilies by the Fothergilla are quite moveable.
So, there you have it. What would you do with this garden space?
(The picture of the pansies and violas doesn't really relate to the topic of this post, I just thought they were pretty, and a garden blog should have pretty pictures, especially when one is showing a garden space in need of renovation!)
Comments
My first thought was a brick wall is in need of some vines ... an ivy perhaps or as someone above noted, a climbing rose? I was thinking that you could also plant some sturdy mid-sized perennials like my beloved gas plant (Dictamnus albus) ... the foliage looks great all summer long and the flowers are spectacular and long lasting in June. Of course, I would add a meadowrue (Thalictrum) simply because meadowrues create a lovely atmosphere. And because it is a warm corner, several fragrant rock garden pinks (Dianthus) would give some colour (also looking quite beautiful with the gas plant and meadowrues. They also spread and create lovely patches of evergreen foliage ...
My garden has similar climate to yours- two climbers I really like are the "America" rose and "The Alchemist". First is a coral and the second is an apricot- but I think it only has early summer bloom, while the America blooms through the rose season. I wouldn't do a cutting garden or anything too informal since it is a front dooryard.
Since your fothergillas have good fall color, underplant with leadwort (plumbago)? It is a groundcover type plant with bright blue flowers.
Plant choices would depend on what colors you were partial to.