I think your ideas will work. The more you chop up the house with different colors the more it will emphasize your garages, particularly since the house seems like it is obscured by plants (at least in the pictures.) Have you considered doing something decorative with the garage doors? I don't think carriage house doors work here but there are a lot of other creative designs for garage doors. Or painting them a slightly darker color than the house so they recede a little bit. Since they are so prominent that is where you will get the most bang for the buck.

jh77 the garage doors are next on my list... i intend to replace with wooden doors to match the front door. the columns will be replaced with decorative trim. the overgrowth will be trimmed back another couple of feet. thank you for your input

I'd try some of these combos.

Hi Patricia! oh dear you will hate me won't you? considering the style of the house, the fact I see a sheflara & what looks like a palm? I am going to assume that this lovely little beastie is in florida? And of course stucco, should be roughly what it is and you really do not want to go very dark on the brick. right? So, the brick really should not be any darker than the last pic? Even that is going to be pretty dark. You know the place is all about light and white. Unless you figure out how to make the brick go reddish? I know, I know, but i will still like you and your lovely home.

duh! talk about missing the obvious! But aunt, i should get a little kudos for figuring it out with out that. uh Patricia, perhaps you should see that we all miss it from now on?

havingfun, auntqueenie... you are both very perceptive!!! thanks for the help... living in Fl, in a gated community i didn't have much choice with color schemes. my HOA actually has a book on accepted colors which MUST NOT be deviated from lol. so, for your enjoyment, i've attached a couple of pics. still have work to do on the landscaping and the garage doors must be changed. note, the garage door furthest to the right will be removed and replaced with a window, surrounded by cinderblock and stucco/textured walls.

ok, back to original color issue. Your color combo and using two different colors sounds great. I just wanted to make sure that you keep in mind, that taupe is very dark for fl. My thought would be to lighten the color of your stucco by a hair. it is never truly white, but stucco is never anywhere near dark either. then use a slightly darker, abut the same value as your trim now. though this looks green on my screen?

i hope this helps, and don't forget to replace the one pic. and I will keep my fingers crossed for a little coolness your way.

HOA can be a pain.