I love, love your house! I would not paint the brick. I would paint the body of the house a midtone gray and accent the windows and the arches above the entrance in a white trim colour.

No shutters. Paint the front door a shiny slate/blue. See how that looks before considering adding shutters. Improve your landscaping. Is your roof gray or black?

I know it's tempting to look at photos of larger homes for inspiration, but I would try to avoid it. The scale is just not the same. Try to search smaller one storey painted homes in google or in Houzz. Of course, I couldn't find a smaller home to show you the suggested colour scheme. But it does have a bit of brick showing on the steps. I'll try to find another one!

Has brick around the bottom! I like how adding a deeper colour on the body of the house balances out the colour of the brick bottom. I think your house would not look 'cut in half' with this look. And the white trim pops.

Thanks for the compliments and the advice! I definitely agree with you regarding the cut in half look. I really like the last picture you posted. That was another option - painting the body a color so that it blends more but my husband likes the look of a white or off white house. I will see if he will budge on that. I am kind of set on the shutters though. I really wanted to add them especially to the left window because it is so small in comparison to the rest of that side of the house. If we were to paint the house mid-tone grey, would shutters really be too much? Oh and my roof is brown (like a milk chocolate brown) so I feel like it limits our options. Charcoal or black is much easier to work with

If the roof is brown, you could go with a warm grey for the body. Shutters... shutters are supposed to be sized to actually cover the window 100% if closed, with real hinges and bracket hardware to be authentic, and wood, no plastic. So, like you mentioned, just the two windows, not the large one. I'm sure the expert designers will chime in on this part. I've seen some simple styles that could be handmade if you know someone handy.

Maybe a window box with the same build 'style' as your shutters under the large window depending on your landscaping.

Have you driven around or ride your bikes to see similar updated houses in your neighbourhood? I saw a house with the same brick as ours, the owner shared all her colours and we ended up doing the same. Huge relief to know what it would look like ahead of time! I highly recommend trying it.

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Just saw Kevin's mockup, excellent! Any chance you can make the trim under the roofline white? or do you disagree Kevin?

Kevin,
Thanks for the examples. They look good! Yes, I see what you are saying regarding the painted brick. You can never go back. We will consider painting the body a darker color because the white does break it up.

Bette,
I do agree about the shutter sizing. We are definitely paying attention to that. They will be functioning shutters. My husband is pretty handy and he is going to make them. I do like the idea of the window box under the larger window since we will not have shutters on those. We will be trimming down those bushes significantly so that could work. Is the picture you posted of your home? I love the brick color. I wish we could get our door back to wood but I just don't want to take the chance in case it doesn't look good. It's so old and there used to be an actual key hole that has been covered. It would take a lot more money to restore it and we aren't even sure if the wood would be pretty. Yours is very pretty!!

Thanks again!

Bette, I agree that you could leave the trim white. Rcan, I would go ahead and give it a shot to get the door back to the original wood. If it doesn't work out you can always repaint it. Here it is with the trim under the roof white and a wooden door. Hope this helps.

The photo I posted is not my house, I just wanted to show you the hardware showing on the shutters. Make sure you post new photos when you are done, or as you progress.