thanks!!! I think I'm going to paint them white. Yes the columns are flimsy. suggestions?

A simple, beefed up box column would be very nice. I wouldn't add a lot of trim as that would compete with the various levels of the house.

Given that your roof is tan and you already have white trim, you might consider a cream or buff color for the shingles so that the white details have some definition. The front door would look great painted a forest green, but I"d replace the storm door with a full-glass one.

THe columns can be boxed in with 1x4 and 1x6 to give them more substance, with trim at top and bottom. Easy fix. (Use long thin screws instead of nails -- it's easier to unscrew than it is to crowbar something apart. In fact, I'd use LIquid Nails to glue the parts together before screwing in place.)

AMAZING! Loving all the ideas and opinions!!

Keep 'em coming!

In my opinion, the small amount of brick looks strangely out of place given the amount of shingles on the rest of the front. If you're going to stucco later, I'd paint the shingles and brick the same color and I'd definitely enlarge the columns.

definitely enlarging the columns, loving the ideas mentioned above. As for painting the shingles the color of bricks? That's like a ruddy reddish color? sounds ugly... my dream exterior is not brick at all, it's stone and stucco- gorgeous! sorta like this but different colors and no vinyl

I may be in the minority here but the shingles are fabulous. You could try power washing them to get the scrum off of them. I would go for changing the windows and adding more classic windows with some heft to them by way of "true" mullions and not those fake snap in ones. I would also maybe go with a lighter colored garage door that looks kind of like old carriage doors like what you might find in old stables with a fanned light panel on the top and with some chunky hardware. and then pay greater attention to bringing the focus on your front door. Bulkier columns in a greige and change the door.

Power washing is the least expensive way to lighten up the shingles. If they are very dry they won't paint well. Carriage doors for the garage are more expensive than regular doors but would give your house a great new look. The columns should be enlarged. Change out the front door to compliment the new garage doors. Last but not least, when you can afford it you can face the brick with stone. There are many options available from a river rock look to flagstone. The products are flat on one side and are put right over the brick.

thanks kobley! very informative! do you think painting will be a failure? where's the best place to buy said carriage doors?

Also, is there a way to paint the doors to look like theyre carriage doors and then just add the hardware?

HI - OK my first question is - where is the rest of the roof ?? I would put a Cabot Solid Stain on the shingles in a weathered grey or a cream. Yes , beef up the columns - nice bigger square ones- but the bottom of the portico needs a thicker bottom added first to match with the white trim line. Have the entrance to the front door come straight from the front instead of going to the driveway. More welcoming. And new carriage house style garage doors in white w/ black hinges . So , about the roof - if you are fixing the roof then have dark grey shingles or put on a metal roof .

Thanks lefty! The reason it looks like half a roof is because the previous owner only built up half the house- the entire 3rd floor is the master suite ( https://www.houzz.com/discussions/this-master-bedroom-needs-a-makeover-dsvw-vd~116332) and a bathroom ( https://www.houzz.com/discussions/gut-or-remodel-is-this-bathroom-salvageable-dsvw-vd~116412). what's a portico? do you have images you can direct me to?

A stain is genius!! Is it durable? @eanne- I see the know how but I can't find the doors on homedpot's site.

Google carriage doors. There are a number of different companies and prices. I also agree with lefty47 about the Cabot Solid Stain. Your painter should power wash your house first and let it dry well. I also agree with his Idea about the entrance when you redue the landscape. Go slowly, get all your ideas together. Then get prices or bids and decide what you can afford. Remember also that brick can be painted. What color is your roof?

The roof is new and the windows are anderson, so those are not going anywhere. Love the idea of carroiage doors hadn't thought of that. You think I should paint the brick? What color? What color to stain the shingles? Definitely stain as oppose d to paint? ASlso, the shingles dare only on the front the back of the house is nasty asbestos tiles or something like that....

Is the roof brown? Can the back be painted?

yes the roof is like a brown or tanish color. will that clash with dark hardware on the carriage style garage doors?

Andrea, if you google carriage garage doors the home depot site is listed.

I'm going to pipe up here just to make sure you understood head9806's comment about painting the brick. He/she didn't mean paint the shingles the reddish color of the brick. Rather, the suggestion was to paint the brick whatever color you end up painting or staining the shingles (gray, cream, white, whatever) so that the brick blends with the rest of the house. It's one of many options here, but I wanted to make sure you understood that no one was suggesting painting the shingles brick red.
Good luck!

They have oil rubbed bronze which is a dark brown color for the hardware. Start with the stain for the shingles. Go to a paint store that has Cabot stain and look at the colors. Pick a tan stain that compliments your roof. After your painter has powerwashed the singles stain a couple of singles to see if you like the color. Then pick a similar color maybe a shade or two darker for the brick. If you are going to paint your current garage doors use the same color. Keep your front door and trim white. If you can paint the back of your house use the same paint as the brick. Hope this helps.

So the consensus is painting the brick rather than matching the shingle stain to a creamish color that matches the brick?

Currently you have a lot of different surfaces and colors on your house. Painting the brick to compliment the stained shingles will make the house flow and look less cut up.Again, if new garage doors are not in the picture yet, paint the current ones the same as the brick. It also helps to drive around other neighborhoods and look at what people have done. If you see a color you like you can show it to your painter.

HI - Andrea , I like the house you picked for what you would like to have on your house for stucco etc. That house is in my City ( Calgary Alberta Canada ) for about a million and a half. I have always liked that house too. On painting the brick on your house - wait until the shingles are done and see then if they need to be painted . I'm thinking maybe not.But your choice ! And if you decide to paint then paint a little bit darker grey than the shingles. Then have a Charcoal black front door and add some black planting pots in front to go with the black hinges on the garage . I think you could faux the carriage door look . Maybe you could find an artsy person to help. When you do the shingles then paint the whole house the same color front and back - if possible.

lefty47 may not realize that your roof is brown/tan. His ideas are good but you might want to stick with the tan tones instead of grey and black.

do people paint roofs?

Not that I know of....good luck! I need to sign off now

thanks kobley

Thanks feeny, your comment is EXACTLY what I meant :) Sorry if I didn't make that clearer before. Paint the brick AND the shingles the same color but definitely not the reddish brown (i.e., cream, beige, etc.) That would be the least expensive option for the time being.

My original thought (that I didn't post) was to possibly stone the brick area, but when I read that you wanted to stucco later, I was trying to think of the least expensive option for the time being.

All the above are good ideas, BUT I think your house is mixed up, it (those who designed) didn't know what style to go with. The entry looks colonial and the rest, I don't what category that falls in (craftsman?). But, I think the roof line needs to be changed over the entry. The entry is out of place, it is confusing with the rest of the house. Hopefully, houssen or dytecture will check in, but they will have some good ideas.

Sorry to hear that you just re did the roof. Personal opinion is that the whole house need tying together. I think that extending the sloped roof line over the bay area of the house would have helped.

Try grey opaque stain following a pressure wash on your shingles. Lower the porch roof and beef up the columns possibly a chippendale rail around the porch. Do trim in white and door in soft nantuckett blue with brick and garage doors to match the shingles, a soft gray. It would be super.work on the landscape too. That makes a world of difference even if you do nothing else!

Hi. My opinion is that the shingles were not stained (or stained once) and left to weather. It is not a look I like.

If you stain or paint, you should get the house power washed by a company that knows what it is doing. The last thing you need is for them to aim the spray from the ground and get the water into the walls of your house. But I would not skip this step or else your paint (stain) job will fail. I think you need to do a medium to dark tan.

I found two color options that I think will look good on your house. I think I would stain, rather than paint, because I think it won't peel, and according to Benjamin Moore their solid stains can be any color. But you should talk to a paint expert.

I would not change the entrance. I think the bricks look OK, go with the roof, and fill the space from the top of the door to the bottom of the gable. If you paint the brick the space will look blah. Also, if you were to lower the gable, you would have to deal with the octagon window. So leave well enough alone. Finally, if you do paint the shingles, paint the garage doors. Save your money, don't but new ones; they are expensive.

Good luck!

I think just putting stucco on the brick...new columns...new garage doors...maybe change the design of the portico front above the columns...new or painted shutters...new door... would be major!

The brick is not my issue, that is actually decent...

After rethinking my initial suggestion and coming across this home ( ) the shingles are growing on me. I played around with your photo in Photoshop and attached a photo that includes doing the following:

1) Taking off porch gable and columns completely.
2) Covering brick with wood shingles (maybe using stain to simulate weathering so it would blend with the rest of the shingles).
3) Finishing the roof all the way across will make a HUGE impact in the overall appearance of your house.
4) Adding window boxes to give a little pop of color against all the wood.
5) Changing garage doors.
6) Changing front door.

For what it's worth...the shingles are charming , paint them, beef up the columns and add a pergola above the garage doors

wow that's awesome! Finishing the roof across is not an option right now- it's an entire addition that just doesnt stretch across the whole house. I just cant get rid of brick fr gross shingle, seems wrong, but it does make it look more uniform...
thanks for all the effort- I will definitely use some of these suggestions.

If you only framed the roof and didn't do the inside work yet, would that still be out of your budget?

Have no clue, how would that even work? Right now there's a sky light in that area and the ceilings are high. There's a little balcony frpom the master suite over looking the living room.

Framers would have to be consulted....so is it just flat across that space right now? If so, then the rafters should already be in perfect position; however, if you add living space above it in the future, those rafters then become floor joists and you would want to make sure the rafters/joists currently there can support the weight of a 2nd story. It might be simple or it could get complicated, but I'd definitely consult someone about it to see exactly what your options are.

That being said, framers would just have to construct new roof rafters the same pitch to tie it all in. They could stick brace it until you come in later and add walls, etc. to support the new rafters. The only pitfall would be that the skylight then becomes useless.

If your major exterior renovation is not too far into the future, you might just considering living with what is there now and saving more money for the reno.

I think the use of bolder colors to define your trim and creating a more uniform color palette for the other materials will go a long way to tie together so many textures. I have seen many shingled homes mixed with brick patterns, louvered shutters, round windows, panelled garage doors, wooden doors and glass storm doors. There is so much going on that the focus is gone. Since you aren't particularly in love with your shingles, paint them if the finish does not prohibit it. Make your door/oval window/portico your focus: 1) Bulk up and box in the columns, 2) replace the doorf and stair railings sized in keeping with the newer size of the columns and round window 3) Pick three colors: #one for shingles; #two for high contrast features like columns, window trim, shutters, maybe the diamond above the portch, under the eaves, around garage door; #three a variation of color number one for garage doors, the shutters & maybe the front door. Using paint may open up funds to invest in a new pendant light and glass door that lights up the whole front. Remove the bushes and all eyes will be on your warm and inviting entryway while the rest of the house sets restfully to the sides of this new focus. This cottage had all sorts of stuff going on until it was painted uniformally to draw the eye to the trim details.

Also, I Love the idea of a shallow pergola over the garage doors. Don't know what zone you live in but there are so many flowering vines that would be a colorful, perennial addition to soften the depth between the windows and the top of the garage doors.

Did you know you can load your house pictures onto Benjamin Moore's website and choose the colours?

1. The house looks more welcoming with the pillars & stoop removed as seen in Head9806 picture!
2. I suggest painting the front door & garage doors Benjamin Moore's Deep Royal 2061-10 from the Colour Preview collection.
3. The brick is so lively, I wouldn't paint it per-say, but rather tone down the white trim, to a cream tone out such as Benjamin Moore's Old Prairie OC-42 This will help tie in the honey browns, red, and (burnt wood).
4. For the front steps, I recommend a product called Stone Effects, in Arizona Sand. Home Depot & Rona have this in their paint sections.
5. For the back, I suggest either Benjamin Moore's Saybrook Sage HC-114, or Nantucket Grey HC-111. It'll coordinate well with the front of the house.
6. Personally, I prefer the honey toned cedar shingles on the front of the house. If you can, I would try to find a stain or paint colour close to that tone and paint the burnt coloured shingles for a uniform look. One paint colour that that comes to mind is Benjamin Moore's Mystic Gold HC-47.

Lots of great ideas. I'd recommend cleaning the shingles and applying an opaque stain. If the budget would allow, remove the pediment and columns and replace with a shed stoop w/ brackets, kinda craftsman-like. And then I'd paint the brick a buff color and use a green stain on the shingle siding.

head 9806 and I seem to be a minority but his photo redo is right-on! Getting rid of that schizophrenic colonial portico brings it back to what it might have been. Jensens photo also shows the cohesiveness that should exist on this house.

We would suggest cleaning the cedar shake siding with a wood cleaner/brightner. You may also do a "light" pressure washing to remove the old wood surface fiber. Then a semi-solid stain would allow the character of the wood to show through still. Check out Sikkens products. We have many customers with positive comments on their products.

Hurricane Sandy destroyed the front area and roof, so we are refacing! I need stucco suggestions and cultured stone color suggestions please. I am putting stone around the entryway where the brick is and probably arouynd the upper area where all those windows are. I really want gray hues and the roof will be redone in charcoal color (like black). I am replacing the door with a cast iron one I think (opinions welcome) the windows are in good shape so theyre staying... really wish they were black and not white. Please assisst with opinions, suggestions!

Stain shingles in an opaque color that doesn't compete with the tan roof. This will give you home a more cohesive appearance. For trim, use a beige or taupe. Using white makes the colonial portico jump out against the roof right now. I would leave brick until painting and trim is finished to see how it looks. You can then paint it if it will look better at that time. Paint garage same as body of house and add the pergola detail over it as suggested, in the trim color. Also I like the suggestions made to beef up columns. Then definitely a new or brightly painted front door. Hope this helps!