What a cute house! On my monitor though, the roof and siding look green. I agree with your husband about not painting the brick. I would do shutters on the single windows only and perhaps only the one on the left.. Shutters on the ganged windows will look odd.

I would put up shutters a couple of shades darker than my roof and only on the window left of the door. The window to the far left may not have enough room on the right for a shutter, you could put a larger shutter on the left side only. Have you considered stripping the front door and staining it or leaving the natural wood?

Yes I have considered attempting getting the door back to natural wood. It would be beautiful but many people have advised me not to because the sun will basically destroy the wood (even if sealed). We live in south Louisiana! We are still considering it though. What if we painted the door and put up natural wood shutters? Would that look good? Or would it be too much going on?

I think it would. look into using marine varnish or the varnish used on boats.

I would not use natural wood on this house, because it has a bit of tudor cottage style to it, and the natural wood is not quite refined enough. You also want deep color on the shutters to give contrast back to the house - natural wood is too light here.

The cottage charm you are aiming for would benefit from a board and batten shutter for the two outermost windows - with shutter frogs so when the hurricanes come you can actually shut them. You might go so far as to get cutouts in them - that would be darling.

Let's talk colors for southern LA - let's get some tudor colors going - the siding would be most charming in a warmer camoflauge neutral - a pale warm gray like bm silver fox http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/silverfox

This will lessen the contrast between brick and siding and make the house look taller Trim (fascia, especially the arch over the entry, around the doors and windows) wants to be darker for contrast - bm gargoyle http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/gargoyle

Shutters in gargoyle too . . not darker

For the front door - bm raintree green http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/raintreegree

Test these out - maybe groveraxle will happen along again and photoshop them in for you

Here's a house with board and battens that have cutouts . . your cut outs want to be meaningful to you and your location, personal - but classic.

Peace of the Rock - Shingle Style Beach House on Cape Cod, MA Custom Home · More Info

Thank you so much for the advice. Those colors are very pretty and work well together. I like your idea about the board and batten shutters. They add the charm we are aiming for!

Hi rcan,

libradesigneye has the right idea about a dark gray color for your home. You could use synethic material for shutters instead of wood, like our Endurian maintenance free shutters if you're worried about too much sun. You can download ourdigital catalog if you'd like to take a look at our cut outs, styles and more information on our shutters in general.

I would recommend shutters that are the same color as the roof. Although shutters would not function actually on the triple windows, I would add shutters there for decorative purposes anyway. Furthermore, I would add a matching sconce light to the left side of the entranceway. If you can add a second matching window to the single window on the left, it will make the house look more balanced. One or two white-painted window boxes, placed on this left side and filled with colorful blooms, will add brightness.

Well, Timberlane got me - I went to look at their cutout catalog . . what I know about southern louisiana (having lived there for a short time as a child) makes me want to suggest a cut out of a duck, a swan or the heron - they have two duck profiles - flying or floating . . . the swan is darling so if that suits. . . (you do have migration near you (both Trumpeter and Tundra swans come to southern la ). . then name this your Swan Cottage and go for it . . if hubby is a hunter . . go for the duck . . it is masculine in that context and personal . . if neither of those resonate with you, and you know anything about audubon (and you will long term if you don't now) go for the heron because it is the most unique. If you select a duck, get a name for a particular favorite - let this be Pintail Cottage or Widgeon Cottage . . .