The colors you have actually work very well with the wooded area.

Have you considered creating a gable roof front porch over the front door and under the smaller of the four front windows?

I like the cream color, but the brown is just too much. You could go with a dark blue gray maybe....

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what ever color u go with the garage door should also be that color. and then use a lighter color on the trim so the garage looks like it goes with the house..instead of that big white door.

some decorative hardware on the garage door would look nice too.. Keep all our ur metals the same color. the knobs, lighting, the hinges etc. (hinges can be painted). adding a weather vane to the top of ur garage would also look cool..

on ur house ur door looks to be in hiding. u would almost need a bright color to attract company to ur front door. but just on the door/screen if u have one.

ur house is Huge and Stately, so bright colors would be an eye sore. with all that green in the foreground and background u look like u live where there is an abundance of precip. so grey or some greyed blues might blend with the clouds..but deep greys or that blue that jck mention "Night Train"..would give a stately look..for the body.

it seems most people go with a red door with that Night Train color.. but a Yellow would grab people's attention and bring them to ur door. and Yellow is a very welcoming color. it also should be not a shabby chic yellow. . lol

trim should be lighter. or in a contrasting color.

sometimes painting the gutters the body color looks real good too..

HI -- Looks like a big house . Right now it looks like a house floating in the air . So I would paint it all one color- top and brick bottom - like a warm white or a light tan . Cloud White or Manchester Tan with Willow for trims and Prairie Lily for the front door . All Benjamin Moore Paints . Or paint the whole house a pretty slate blue and have white for all the trims . Then a pretty lime green for the front door.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

suezbell - I can't picture what you mean by gabled roof front porch. Do you have a picture or link to an example you could share?

hayleydaniels- we have considered painting the brown half to match the cream color. I agree that the brown is the problem making it look very 70's. Just not sure what color we would do for the trim and the door if we did go with cream.

mntflwr - We do live in a place that gets a lot of rain. Are you suggesting that we stay away from greys because it will blend with the clouds? And that we should try to go with the stately look? I love the weather vane idea!

lefty47 - I love the lime green door idea.

Sounds like greys are the most common suggestion. I like the idea of having a bright color that pops for the front door. This has been great feedback.

Since you have a brown roof, straight gray is not going to look good unless you want to go really modern and go black - for some reason this works with brown roofs. Black would be a big change and probably wants more sun . ..

Since your house is really sort of modern with large no muntin windows but your garage door is sort of cottage with the sunrise sunburst glass . . let's try for some mod cottage colors that bring some charm to the place.

For the field - top and bottom and the shingles around the garage door, test this neutral. It has a sort of camflauge khaki color that is going to be really subtle, fit into the woods, but also be ever so slightly warm ... it will be like a pastel neutral on the outside of your house - test it on a board that you can carry around to see it in different lights - am and pm and in full sun and not - here are the links so you can switch between and see them on your monitor together . .

bm moon shadow http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/moonshadow

Since your garage door is metal and cream, the easiest thing to do is leave it so you don't have to paint and maintain it. Let's match it but go lighter so you have contrast . . A creamy white trim (lighter than the garage door but it is aways off from the house) on the fascia, eaves, door and window trim .. For downspouts paint the color behind them wherever they land

Trim I like this shade with moon shadow

bm linen white http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/pm28

A red front door will be warm and charming - I like bm currant red http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/currantred

and hey - why not do all the doors around the entire house in red - you aren't going to have confusion about what is the front door. This is going to have a sort of camp effect with a red door . . the brown railings can stay natural as they are . . but the whole thing will lighten and look bigger. You could add some mod wood brackets - the angular ones under the bump out onto the masonry first floor - maybe at corners and then in pairs - around the entry and the lower windows? Look at prowoodmarket to see if they have what you like.

the big gray concrete retaining wall at the road .. take this shade and use 1/3 paint and 2/3 water ... wash it on the wall with a big fat roller at diagonals so it feels like venetian plaster when you are done http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/sagemountain
It's just going to take some of the blue out of the gray and make it blend into the growies more . .if you can find a spilling plant that works in your zone (here it would be rosemary but there it would drown) .. .plant it at the top of the wall and let it spill halfway down .. .

In case the linen white on your house feels too white next to the garage door, don't use it near the garage door - on that fascia / eave use another half shade down bm winter wheat on the trim at the garage http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/winterwheat

it won't match your door but it will echo it close enough to lead the eye i think . .

hope you like this! paint will do a lot for you . .

if those colors are not in ur color palette how would u feel about a deep wine color u need to look at several color wheels to see what colors make a pop for an entrance. my garage door was painted the same color as my front door.. and Fedex and other delivery people were always confused to where my entrance was, even with a brick walkway to my front door. when we repainted the house every door was painted the body color of the house except the front and back door.

u have good advice going here.. finding something u are willing to go with is ..because ur house is so big and paint isnt cheap., plus taping up all the windows..it is lots of work.and u have a 2 story place. .

sorry im responding again.. shades of taupe and creams would look good on ur house. Taupe comes in almost any shade.. like there are green taupe's, tan taupe's, blue taupe's, grey taupe's they are not so much green or blue..just have a tonal value. .

I love the suggestions-- thank you everyone. It is definitely a big decision since it is a lot of painting to do and it's not often that we get stretches of sunshine here but I am planning in advance for next summer. I like the mod cottage suggestion and I also like the taupe suggestion as I love greiges. Wondering if I could pull off a tan taupe body color with a red trim. I saw it on a house here-- is that crazy? I tend to like the eclectic photos on Houzz but at the same time I don't want to force our house into a style that it's not.

when was ur house built? it looks like a modern design when it was built in it's time. and it seems to be coming back for those that love the modern feel. Taupe Greys,Tans, and Creams are the main body colors. with either smokey colors for trim or creams.. this is ur house and u need to Love what u are gonna paint it. just stay positive. Lots of colors go with the Taupe Greys. and Tans will look awesome too.. Post a picture when u are done..Please!

Thanks mntflwr! Our house was built in 1950. I will definitely post a pic next summer!

I think the 3rd color looks great and will make your older home look new again.

Hi, which 3rd color are you taking about?

I love the color palet below in the "vertical siding" question. Gray for the whole house and white trim with weathered copper accessories! Love the look and your house would look great in these colors! PS - What color is your roof? That might change things.....

Hi there, Mitten supplies a whole line of natural colours that are durable, vinyl siding...you can check them all out here, maybe one will catch your eye :) http://www.mittenbp.com/products/horizontal/highland

You definitely can go taupe with red trim but the challenge is where to use the red trim and getting the right shade of taupe. You don't want a dark house and dark trim and red is a deep color so you want to have contrast back. If you love eclectic, you could do a red house with warm white trim and garage door which would be very mod cottage / almost barn like at this scale . .very cheerful especially where you have lots of rain and wonderful against the pines.

You could substitute red for the trim in my scheme, but you will want to use some cooler soft taupe field color .. like bm collingwood - this would still look like a pastel. Then, you probably want to amp up the trim width around all the windows. In a cold and rainy / gray place with brown roof you don't want dark and you don't want gray. BUT a warm gray /soft taupe maybe works if you test a panel next to the roof tone . . your roof tone appears to be golden brown .. a cool gray / taupe needs to be light not to clash .. darkest taupe I can recommend - bm ashley gray BUT again, I'm not sure about it unless you test because of the tone of your roof. . I can be sure that collingwood will look good but it is light ..

Red might be the ticket for you - it looks great with a brown roof .. it doesn't reflect much light so you'll sit back in the woods, but it is cheerful and classic. You can also add a small pergola over your entry opening without much expense - could have solid roof but doesn't have to .. that adds to the mod thing - see Ben Moore has carriage red that is wonderful

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What you need most is to tie the upper and lower floors together visually, and also connect with the garage and its door. Different colors for top and bottom are fine but the difference shouldn't be so stark, plus the trim should be uniform to help them connect. A lighter, brighter front door would help too.