I was watching Rehab Addict the other day and I love what she does to the homes she restores. A few times during the season she mentions how when you stick to the originality of the home it never goes out of style and it just looks right. So that made me kind of rethink some of future design choices I've been wanting to make in my own home. I have a typical1980's ranch home that you see all over the dfw in older subdivisions. it has antique brass throughout, solid brick exterior and fireplace, painted all in neutrals. My personal style is overall transitional, I love traditional touches (built ins, spindles, wood accents)with a touch of french country. Now I'm sure traditional/transitional can be achieved but can french country with it just not looking right? The interior is one thing the extior is where I get completely stuck. so I guess my questions are.
1. Should I stick with the original finishes when choosing new fixtures? Antique brass vs brushed nickel?
2. keep the boring hedges or do a more modern mixture of plants and flowers with a stone garden edge?
3. I want to paint the exterior; shutters, gutters, garage door, two side panels of the front door- soft charcoal like black, trim and all the brown- off white and the front door an earthy blue.
3. besides all of the personal design questions. What would you say is the decade or era/style of home cut off that you would stop focusing on maintaining or restoring what was originally there?

the first picture is the exterior of my home, second is my color inspiration for the exterior, third is a mail box idea I'm not sure fits our home or if a nicely painted wood post would be best.

Thanks for any input.