It looks like a great house. The only obvious thing I see in this photo is that the shutters need to be painted a color, but without more pictures, hard to tell what color

Think about replacing the white shutters with burgundy or green. You'll be surprised how much of a difference a little color will make. I would also paint the door to match the new shutters. The bush in front of the bay window is too big. It takes away from the window. You could either trim it or take it out completely. The shrubs in front of the wide part of the house also seem too tall. You could take them out or just trim them, depending on how much work you want to put into it. One thing that is missing from your yard is color. Everything seems to be a shade of green. You could plant some flowers around the tree and in front of the shrubbery if you don't remove it.

This is great advice. I really appreciate your input. Do you think Dark gray or black is better? Do you have a shade of grey that you recommend? Also, does that mean i should make my front door match too? or should that stay white. Also, I like the suggestions about the plants/trees. Do they may shutters that big for bay windows? I'm new at all this! Thanks again!

Bushes next to the home usually shows the age of the house because their growth are no longer in proportion with the house. If you drastically cut back and trim the bushes, and even replace a couple of them, your curb appeal with dramatically improve with very little money spent.

Thanks, i love the x's -- that's the direction I need. Thank you!

If you go for dark or black shutters, you might consider a pop of color on the front door -- such as a dark red, maybe with a similar undertone to your roof?
Maybe spend some time looking around your area for houses that catch your eye and see how they are put together, what you like and what you don't.

Here are a few examples:

I agree with painting the brick the same color as your siding. We did that and our house looks bigger and more co-hesive. We also pulled all the old shrubs and replaced with verigated monkey grass and boxwood. Now you see the house and the landscape is the accent!

why not try a warm colour and I agree trimming down the x marked bushes .

Shutters should only be placed on windows where it looks like the shutters would be able to close over the window, so you're right, shutters would not work on the bay window. We all know that almost all American shutters are inoperable, unlike the ones in Europe, but we need to make them at least appear usable.

I would not paint the brick. I like having a change of look on that part of the house. Makes it more interesting.

My house has similar tones. For the shutters, painters and everyone I asked recommended black. We tested dark grey, just didn't pop. Used black looks great.

Hi jessicawolin...Your house is great and has lots of potential!! Since so many folks have recommended removing shrubs AND you said you are new to this, I would like to share a tip with you. When we moved to our house, we also had overgrown foundation plants (yews). Rather than dig them up, my husband wrapped a chain around the base, connected the other end to the tow hook on our jeep, and popped those suckers right out. So easy! Wait till you have a couple days of rain! Hope this is helpful.

how about breaking up that big front face with 2 different types of cladding - one style for the ground floor and another for the top floor. If you do end up getting rid of the shrubs, i'd put a nice tall ornimental tree between the 2 front windows, like a birch tree - something tall and decorative.

You do not need to take out the yews. They respond very well to drastic pruning. Believe me, I have cut over-grown yews back to appropriate size and within a year, they had nice healthy growth. Most people do not cut back enough to allow for new growth and just keep cutting at the same level.

But I do agree a tree like a Japanese maple would look good in the space between the two windows. It should be planted at least 5 feet out from the house to allow it to fully grow.

I love the red door example that mariaanne gave. It has a bit of brown in it and would work well with the brick and the roof. Since it's not appropriate to put shutters on the bay window, consider full length shutters for the front door. I agree with shutters being black for contrast. Select a Japanese red maple that has been pruned to a more upright shape as they sometimes can be rather wide. Their color will be nice with the other choices. Even simple hostas with wide cream edges will help break up the green of the yews. Or, you could add some Stella D'Oro day lilies for some bright yellow color. The folks at your local garden center can suggest varieties that will work best where you live. Bring the picture and be sure to tell them what the sun exposure is for the front of your house and have an idea how much shade the trees will give once the leaves are on them. Can't quite tell in this photo. Good luck.

I bought a house with similar colors 2 years ago and this is what I did. I left the siding beige and painted the brick a slightly warmer taupe color which added warmth and depth. My brother, who is a builder, suggested a dark, dark green almost black for the shutters and it was perfect! To finish it off I painted my front door a warm, but bright color of red and placed a wreath of Sunflowers on the red door. My neighbors love the change. Good luck on your new home! PS...I would delete the large bush under the bay window and put a smaller, spiral tree/bush to the left of the bay window to balance and anchor the front of the house.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. Can you pst a pic of your house?

Going craftsman you can tie both sides of the house together.

Do you think we should paint the shutters black or buy new ones from home depot?

If the wood of the current shutters is in good condition, you can just paint them black.

THIS HOUSE, OBVIOUSLY, IS A REMODEL, BUT THE IDEA IS TO PAINT YOURS ALL ONE COLOR. TAKE AN IDEA FROM THE LANDSCAPING AND REMOVE YOUR FOUNDATION PLANTINGS. GET RID OF THE SHUTTERS AND PICK A GREAT FRONT DOOR COLOR. THEN LEAVE IT UNTIL YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND DECIDE WHICH WAY YOU WANT TO GO WITH THE REMODEL.

Here's what i would do.

I think the added color ideas look great, but I have one concern. Once you paint brick you have a different and more demanding maintenance requirement. Peeling paint on brick is not charming.

Even if you have plastic shutters they can be spray painted! If you're spray painting plastic shutters, though, make sure you buy all new "pins" to re-attach because you will break several taking them down. They are inexpensive and it's looks nice to have those fresh, also. We took down all of our faded shutters last year, spray painted them, and they look new! I agree with the others about planting something tall in the large open space between your windows in front, and trimming or removing the large shrubs. We've "pulled" shrubs out with our truck, too! Works great!

Lots of good ideas here. Just be sure to keep your roof color in mind when picking colors as it is approximately 1/3 of your house. Just changing the shutter color is going to do wonders if you are on a tight budget. A corresponding color on your door would look great. Personally, I would remove a lot of the shrubbery and start fresh. Be careful placing a tree right in the middle of that blank area, it makes the house look like it has a face to me. :O)

Congratulations on the house! One idea is to have an 8 x 10 print made of this photo, cut some colored scraps of card stock into shutters, trees, flowers,etc and play with them. It is a fun activity and great way to help visualize so you ca pick the look YOU like and can live with! Enjoy both the process and the result.

Are you located in a cold climate? If you are, I would NOT paint the brick (I like the look but it can be a maintenance nightmare) Since your roof blends more with the brick tones, I would paint your siding more in a color to match the brick. Part of the problem you have now is that the contrast between the brick and siding is much too high. To get a cohesive look, I would go with a warm gray on the siding (it looks like there are gray tones in the brick) Then I would paint the shutters in a brick tone. Paint your front door an accent color: a darker gray-green would be pretty.

The shrubs are overgrown, but you might be able to cut back the yews. If you are short on cash, I would certainly give it a try before pulling them all out and spending big bucks to replace them (plus they are difficult to get out) You can, indeed, prune them right back as far as about 6" - or to whatever height you would want them. The first year will not be so good, but after that they will be full again and you can shape them the way you want them. If you are going to pull them out, you will still want to replace them with some evergreens for year-round green. Someone suggested a japanese maple in between the windows on the siding side - that would be nice. Another idea might be a large trellis (maybe 9-12" grid) in-between the windows. I think something vertical there would fill that space - which makes the windows appear even smaller - and draw the eye up. Good luck :-)

whit all respect i prefer not paint the brick but you cant take the(plastic siding ) and put the hardier and paint at the color you wanted and we remodeling interior and exterior CASTANEDA FAMILY REMODELING , castaneda@insightbb.com if you have a plan we can do for you for a moderate priceless thank you.

I agree with Kathryn on everything but having a vertical tall shrub, small tree, or trellis bisect the two-story section. It tends to break the front into too many small segments, in my mind. You could trim the yews and nurse them back into shape. Then you might add a small tree such as a Japanese maple or dogwood about 15' out into your yard. The clean horizontal line of the two-story section would remain intact, but muted by the tree shape.

No shutters on the bay window.......paint the brick for now to unify the colors....if it becomes a problem in the future then resurface......remove and reshape shrubs....love the idea of blowing up a picture and playing with colors and landscaping....I prefer tall accent trees on the corners of the house.....good luck,,

While painting would indeed unify the appearance, brody1313 is too cavalier about problems in the future.

A brick rambler in our neighborhood that was painted a medium beige underwent a major renovation a few years ago including adding a second story. Weeks of work went into trying to remove the paint on the old bottom story. To this day the house has a faint beige bathtub ring because it just was not possible to get all the paint out of the brick.

There are some great looking painted brick houses in the neighborhood, too, but you should learn just how frequently re-painting or other specific maintenance is needed.

Shutters black, paint the brick same color as sidng and the door red for a pop of color. That's my thoughts. Good luck, post after pics!

it looks like a good solid house. I would make the shutters match the brick, cut back the bushes, maybe even remove most of them and put a feature (like a big sun or something interesting made of iron) between the windows on the siding part of the house. If you can change out the bay window to make it look more modern over time that would be good. box it out and make a window seat?? perhaps??
Also if you put a horizontal barge board paralel to the prch roof on the siding that would break up the big wall.
If sometime the budget allows change out the winddows for larger ones.
good luck!

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I'm thrilled with the response I've received. Based on comments we'll start with black shutters - I'll post pics once they're done. I can't wait to post pics of my kitchen, it needs a makeover too!

I love marianne's photos....the first one with the darker shutters would look fantastic!!!!

and a red door too would look great (with the black shutters)! As long as the red door wasn't too bright of a red!