what color do you plan for the windows?

A fabulous stained glass sidelight would add enormous interest to your main entrance, ( both from the exterior as well as interior view). If you select glass in the door, you could marry the two designs to have a unified theme. The design would compliment both the exterior and interior view. Please view my houzz site to see some ideas. We would be happy to work with you. www.dcstudiosllc.com (our website).

Give the garage doors, front door and windows a common thread such as this trio shares brown wood and glass.

Instead of brown, use taupe and a similar color shown in picture for stucco.

Your garage door is fine. Consider painting it the color of the brick.

Your home is contemporary in style, however some of the components are not. First paint all the wood trim a light color from the brick. If the garage door is functional paint it as well. The lanterns have to go, use a downlight fixture that baths the wall. The front door needs a vertical design and the sidelight a solid pane of glass. If privacy is an issue frosted glass would work, but not like you have now. A concrete pattern on the walkway, color of trim. An extended area of pattern concrete coming off the walkway to under the windows. This area could be defined with potted plants and a bench. I like the solid pane windows.

The urns need to go as well as mailbox.

I would keep the garage door. It looks great. Change the color or wait until you have if I shed the entrance. In that area you could work with a dark grey or a certain color green. I would keep the same style windows dark brown. You have a contemporary home and want to keep it that way.

Stain the garage door dark brown. You want it to blend, not stand out.

It would be nice to see the side and back of the house, but this is a nice looking house which could be converted to a modern type look. If the exterior is only being refreshed then painting may work but the finish may not bring satisfaction or expected results, and it may not last as long as it would be expected. The siding could be replaced with a lighter color siding or fiber cement panels for modern look. The entry door with a striped glass as an option can be dark in color but the side wall should be bright to lighten up the dark entry hall. Matching the new garage door with the new wall finish could add a nice look as well. Stretching the new windows vertically from floor to ceiling could give a spacious look and more interior light, that is if there is a budget for it. The soffit is fine as it is dark and would create a contrast against lighter walls. There are many options available and hope you find the right one that suits you well. Good luck :)

Your current garage door style suits the house. If it's possible to restore and refinish it, it could look better than a new one. And I love the idea above of a stained glass sidelight window to replace the current sidelight beside your front door. Not a floral design, something with a geometric pattern, inspired by Art Deco or Frank Lloyd Wright sidelights.

You have a beautiful home and with a little touch, it will stand out in your neighbourhood.
I would start with what You can't change; the brick. All colours you will choose must complete one another as one big picture. I prefer to match the garage door with the front door. If you have taupe colour on your brick, use dark tones of it for the doors, light tones for the rest of the house. (If you have grey, use dark grey for doors, and light grey for the rest of the house.) Don't forget to lighten up the dark entry hall with a glass door. Accessorize your entryway with bold/bright colours. Use big black house numbers. Never forget that Landscaping is another key to make it outstanding.
If you have questions about colour options or curb appeal, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Good luck on your project!

It's a large house with a very dark color on every wall. Utilizing the beautiful brick you already have, I'd go lighter--maybe the right tan to go with that brick. Trim is important too around windows, on gutters, etc.

Front doors should make a statement, here you can bring in a wonderful pop of color. If using a tan, then the sky's the limit! Speaking of sky, maybe a blue door--the right color blue would be very eye-catching, brightening up the front area.

Don't forget hardware! Beautiful brass door handle, kick plate, larger light fixtures and house numbers will give it a rich look.

Last, put some really nice dark blue planters near the doorway complementing the tan and blue of the new house colors. Then, plant very colorful flowering plants and varigated leafed plants, a few spilling over the side for drama.

If you are replacing your garage door, I would go with something with some windows. You have lots of competing colors going on with the front of your house. I would find a color in the brick and paint or change out the siding to match it better. I agree with moacometlady about the front door matching the garage doors - all with windows. I would also do some lower-lying landscaping in the front to compliment the house.

There are a ton of architectural details when you look closely that are masked by the dark paint instead of highlighted. I say don't fix what ain't broke. I would get a designer in to give you ideas. The house is cute with tons of potential. The fixtures and doors don't look cheap they just need a little something to add the wow factor. New paint to unify the look, landscaping definitely. The bones of this place are great. Maybe shutters on that top window would be cute. Ok, that drainpipe is not workin', that will need to be rethought ;-), but definitely get a designer to take a look before you start replacing doors.

Since you plan to replace doors and windows, I would change the upper level window above the garage. It looks off balance. I would consider putting in a set of transom windows like in this photo.

The garage door should have upper windows in the same style. The door styles that miacometlady referenced would look good with transom windows to match. I would leave the garage and front door wood toned but would go with an sage green color for the trim and a lighter tone for the body. Something like this perhaps

Such great suggestions. Thank you so much!!

I do like the garage door, but it is showing a lot of wear. The amount of work it would be to sand paint and fill in the gaps is not worth it. I think it`s settled that we will buy a darker wood finish door. A couple pictures below. At first I thought no windows, but the consensus seems to be with windows.

Elite Series Door

Contemporary Door

http://www.steel-craft.ca/Residential/Elite

I think we will paint the wood a taupe colour and use a lighter colour on the front entrance wall. As for the windows what colour of trim should we use?

Not to worry we will be replacing the eavestroughs (keeping with the same colour) and will certainly get that downspout to the right height. I never noticed it before, but it sure does stick out like a sore thumb!

Garage door looks great. Try to stain it a richer color like walnut & get similar doors. Paint trim white/light cream

The expenses you are planning are considerable, they could make an enormous difference in the look of the house, it could be fabulous. If it was mine , I would look for an architect to give me a plan to follow , the landscaping alone will take a lot of time and will steer you in the right direction by giving you scale and balance. It will increase the value of your house , way more than the cost of an architect 's plans, take your time and be sure that you love it. I envy you the adventure . Enjoy !

Two thoughts:
1. When was the house built? I940's? I'm a big fan of respecting a home's original architectural style, and where possible, it's original parts. Maybe Mid-Century Modern? Maybe Usonian? Do you have large spans of glass in the rear of the house? Or are there smaller panes of glass? Use the rest of the house to guide your decisions. Immerse yourself in photos and philosophy relevant to your home's underlying style.
2. When the work to repair the original components is daunting, before replacing it, consider paying someone else to do the work. If it's no more expensive, go for the original.

I agree with the second point, in particular, made by pgeis. I truly love the garage door you have. Even if you choose to replace it, I might try to find the same look/color, if possible.

Several comments tell you to consult a designer. I'm sure I'm not the only architect/designer offering you advice, so you have done that, in a way. Many of us on here truly love what we do and are happy to help!

Your garage door options: the first emphasizes the verticality of the existing front windows and columns; the second lets the horizontal layout of the architecture speak a bit more clearly.

I'm still curious as to your desire to replace windows. If you simply must replace something, I would truly start with your front door. Just the door. With a metal one, that can easily be painted.

Then the windows above the garage, as the trim doesn't march anything else and they couldn't possibly be up to code, if they slide side to side to open, on a second story.

Only after those two changes would I start on the rest. Am I mistaken, or is this home in the Midwest? If so, we don't know from this photo anything about your landscaping, as nothing is in bloom in the photo. Still, you don't need an architect for that. A local--local--nursery or landscaping company can help you with that.

I would stop trying to bring in symmetry with the urns though. If you want the urns, place them both in front of the right column, single file. (Plant the one closer to the house with a very tall element: banana leaf, tall grass, etc; plant the one nearer the street with similar but shorter; add a goldilocks or ivy of choice to both.)

Finally, when you mention taupe, I pause. The photos from miacometlady show a similar brick tone as yours, paired with a lovely off-white. That could work lovely...perhaps. Again, if in the Midwest, consider pgeis again. The off-white usually associated with Western and Southern homes is difficult to maintain in the Northeast and Midwest winters. Still...I don't actually know if my guess of locale is accurate. But in the Midwest you can truly play with the orange and red tones in the brick. Don't ignore your true architectural elements--structure of home and chosen brick of columns--while worrying about the decoration... And, I will not allow you to paint sage green on this home. I just won't.

Is this an Ace Lange built home? The look is pretty distinctive.

I would do a modern glass garage door. I think this type of door would make a nice stateman. the garage door is really important to boost the curb appeal.

I would also suggest a glass front door.

If you are going to replace your windows, you should consider reconfiguring the front windows in the living area. A simple solution to making your house more appealing would be to combine the three middle windows into one fixed picture window (maybe two twined together depending on the manufacturer). This will take about $1,500.00 of reframing and interior/exterior trim work. The windows on either end need to operate Your second consideration should be the finish of your window frames. This will dictate the house color you choose. Your house feels contemporary, so I would pick a darker color like Anderson/terratone or a bronze color for my window frames. I would also paint the exterior taupe...like Behr's Bridal Path (not sure that's a current color) but Home Depot should be able to blend it. Consider painting the soffits a light color...like Ralph Lauren's Cosmos., an off white..

Next you need to need to get a nice yard going in the front of the house. Let the yard run up unobstructed to the walk going to the front door. Build a wood fence at your property line that runs toward the street. Stop it when it is four feet short of being aligned with the front of your garage. Construct a curvilinear planting bed across the front of your house and out six to eight feet from the wood fence at your property line. Extend the bed twelve feet beyond the end of the garage towards the street. Plant yews or photinia along the fence and groups of flowers in front of them.

Want extra umph...cut the concrete sidewalk away from the house from the front of the garage to the step up for the porch - and that step up needs to be aligned with the first column away for the house. This will provide a planting bed. Plant a climbing ivy or or fill with large smooth rocks and intersperse with pots filled with plantings. Hang some thing large of interest on the blank brick wall running along the entry sidewalk. Move the front door away from the brick wall side and move the glass panel to the other side. An entry door with glass would help lighten the feeling.

Good luck!

Here are some photos of the rear of our house. We will be replacing the deck this summer and the 2 upstairs windows.

We have done a fair bit of landscaping the last couple years. We are in Canada and nothing has quite started to perk up yet.

The house was built in 1979. The upstairs window is actually fairly new -with 2 casements. The previous owners replaced it and went with white trim on the exterior and wood on the interior #idon'tknowwhattheywerethinking.

I would paint the house a light beige or tan and cover the brick with a nice stone veneer. fix up the yard a bit and the drain pipe that's hanging weird. the garage door just needs a little TLC maybe a fresh coat of stain. something like the pic below