https://www.houzz.com/photos/5606-jeff-davis-street-midcentury-exterior-austin-phvw-vp~452262

Definitely get rid of the shutters, not needed. Boy, has yr yard opened up w/o the shrubs, much better. Love what Dar Eckert posted. You might call some of your local paint stores and ask them if they have a colorist/paint specialist/decorator, you can then make an appt and bring these px w/you. A lot of stores offer this, you may not totally like their ideas but might point you in a good direction or something you might not have even considered. Also check out Maria Killam's blog "Color Me Happy" for some ideas. Good luck and keep us posted.

Rosemary, you are right about the shrubs! They were completely crowding and hiding the house. I did go to Sherwin Williams with some ideas and mind and their decorator helped me a little bit. What really helped was buying some paint samples and actually taking down one of the shutters and putting some paint on them and some on the garage door. The house is going to be a creamy white with a hint of yellow and here are the shutter and door colors! Can't wait to see how this turns out.

Oops, I attached two of the same pic. Here's the other one with the samples painted on.

It has to look worse before it looks better... I pulled the shutters down this weekend and ordered all new ones. I figure if I'm going to have the house freshly painted, I might as well get new shutters in the process.

It is a darling bungalow . . .but I'm not a fan of making it more craftsman and I think the shutters add charm here. What about a pale straw / toned cottage with white trim and shutters and a pretty red door at the front and white door at the side so there is not confusion? I'm assuming you want people to come to the door in the middle of the house rather than the one on the left end. Brightening the entry door with an accent color will do that.

We have to select one that is muted / gold enough to work with the red brown roof - stand up to it. Test http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/dijon and a lot of colors near this - yellows are the tone you need to see in your latitude and pick carefully after looking at a test sample in am pm and midday sun . . yellow and tan are not friends but dijon and red brown will be darling . . make the roof look more red which will bring its cottage qualities forward even more . .

Then we want an off white / not too bright but with some warmth . . . like bm seashell
http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/seashell
and a sort of red orange red door . . maybe bm morrocan red . . http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/moroccanred

It's so hard to decide on colors, isn't it? :) Thank you for your suggestions.

I'm definitely putting new shutters up - I just took the old ones down so the painter would not be tempted to take shortcuts and paint around them. You're right, this house definitely needs some shutters, otherwise it is too plain since there is almost no trim.

abylin if you had a color palette in mind that you were hoping for . . .float it out here and I'll see how I can incorporate . .to me the greens are not very tropical where the yellow is. I would have explored blue-greens but for the red in the roof, but you could shift the front door accent that direction. Coral is something that could work if you love those florida flamingo hues on the cottage itself since you have brick ..

I don't think the hubby would approve of coral. If it were just me, then maybe. I'm pretty much decided on my deep royal blue and the soft green. I will definitely upload more pics once it's all done!

I love the idea of deep royal blue and soft green and will read back so I know what goes where! Mod cottages are now coming in deep royal blue but most cottages are soft green and I'm guessing that is more your style. . .thanks for posting, . . this is a wonderful brick home.

I completely agree with libradesigneye concerning retaining the shutters & focusing on one entry door…I also love your color choices!
I'm hoping you are hanging larger shutters though & keeping your trim white. These details will make your windows appear larger as well, & if you have a green thumb, then window boxes w/vibrant flowers will be a great addition.
By the way, tiny pots only serve to close in your entry stairs. By using fewer but larger accessory items you will be visually expanding the facade of your charming home (i.e. window boxes & maybe one tall green plant in a great container on the concrete next to the secondary entry stairs).
How about black or dark gray for your front door? I would also add a kick plate and change out your wrought iron railings…go for more substantial & straighter styling preferably in wood.
One more thing; I would have some fun with your house numbers by removing the teeny ones you have then replacing them w/much larger ones that you run vertically down the left-facing side of your large (I'm guessing living room) window…in black of course.
Good luck!

Just posting to see the outcome;)

It's coming along...painter coming third week of July!

Kim, thank you for your advice. I love the idea for window boxes with vibrant flowers and ditching the smaller pots in favor of a few strategically placed larger ones. The old railings are already gone and newer ones on order in black, see attached pic. That alone will be a huge improvement! I also love your idea for the larger house numbers running vertically to the left of the big living room window. Right now you can barely see the numbers. I'll have to get some lighting put in on that side if I move the numbers over to that side though. I may contact you through your website for a consultation - you are just across the Gandy Bridge from me.

wonderful . . ok, think i see you picked a creamy white for the body of the house, royal navy shutters and a fun bright green entry door. That door is definitely going to reflect your new tropical landscape direction! You might look for some nautical inspired cottage light fixtures ...

libradesigneye,

Let me know if you see any nautical inspired cottage light fixtures. I am having a difficult time picturing that -- but it sounds neat. I was looking at this light fixture from Pottery Barn, is that kind of what you had in mind?

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/fishermans-indoor-outdoor-sconce/

Here's one of my favorite sites because it is sort of manufacturer direct . and you can sort for size, type, $, metal tone, and so forth to narrow. . .
yep, like that . . . these. . .
http://www.lightingdirect.com/designers-fountain-1761-rt-1-light-outdoor-10-onion-wall-lantern-from-the-nantucket-collection/p855594
http://www.lightingdirect.com/vaxcel-lighting-t0054-chatham-1-light-outdoor-wall-sconce-with-motion-sensor-and-photocell/p2256542
http://www.lightingdirect.com/trans-globe-lighting-5120-two-light-up-lighting-outdoor-wall-sconce-from-the-outdoor-collection/p723727
http://www.lightingdirect.com/vaxcel-lighting-t0039-tilo-1-light-outdoor-wall-sconce-with-motion-sensor-and-photocell/p2024229
maybe my favorite . .
http://www.lightingdirect.com/quoizel-sdn8407-steadman-1-light-outdoor-wall-sconce-with-clear-seedy-glass/p2158641
but look
http://www.lightingdirect.com/elk-lighting-42006-1-1-light-outdoor-sconce-from-the-maritime-collection/p574452
and not sure this is nautical but so cottage . . .
http://www.lightingdirect.com/trans-globe-lighting-4775-single-light-down-lighting-outdoor-wall-sconce-from-the-outdoor-collection/p723589
and that was just a quick scan

you will want to look at scale, where they mount, how many bulb, lumens, how many fixtures, what size where, or all the same, . . nowadays you have to notice if they have LEDs, motion sensors, photocells, and so forth . . same fixture look, bigger initial price, useful functions for some locations, and so on . .

abylin1…you're very welcome, & how ironic that you're so close. I love the new railings, & an uplight tucked into your new landscaping would do the trick to illuminate the new house numbers…this will maintain attention on the numbers & not introduce any more visual competition…i.e. light fixture.

I think you have a very charming house there. I also think that it's style is dominantly "minimalist traditional," which is a very common house style that was used from the thirties through at least the mid-fifties-with a lot of them being built after WWII for families. They are smaller homes, usually, and they are devoid of ornamentation, except for just one architectural feature.
Here are some photos from houzz. They show many with the one stand out feature. I've seen small homes that have small, Federal style porticoes-which are also great examples. One of the homes shown has a small, classical style portico on the front of a very traditional rectangular body, with gables on the ends.
https://www.houzz.com/magazine/roots-of-style-do-you-live-in-a-minimalist-traditional-house-stsetivw-vs~14613683
Also, a site with a definition. One of the features, which your house definitely has, is what they call cross gables. Minimalist Traditional homes usually had cross gables, and sometimes the entrance was tucked close to the corner of the two gables-another feature that your home has, though the entrance also often was on the longer part of the house body.
Here's the link for the site with the info about the style.
http://www.midcenturyhomestyle.com/styles/minimal-traditional.htm
Here's a great example of the basic style.
http://quakerrose.com/traditional-style-homes-design-idea/white-traditional-style-homes/