There is a new product , brick stain, also white wash gives a great soft look.

The house looks great. Nice job on the portico. Suggest removing the shutters from the bay window.

painted brick is beautiful and elegant, I would definitely do it

Don't use paint, have it lime washed...professionally.

On my screen it's the door that looks orangey. Wait until the snow is gone and some green is back before other changes. I do agree the shutters on the bay make no sense- actually detract. I think your door colour may look better in a deeper tone- red brick is classic.

Beautiful home! Your portico is lovely. Remove the shutters from the bay window....and live with it for a while! I have a home with painted brick. It requires maintenance. A lot of maintenance. Live with this for a while. Enjoy it! You have a wonderful house....and have enhanced its beauty.

I wouldn't paint the brick you will be sorry when you find out that you have to maintain it. I like it they way it is but if it bothers it would be easier to change the red on the door to match the red in the bricks. Your portico really makes your house look beautiful. Good luck with whatever you beside to do.

Don't paint the brick. You will be sorry. Take shutters off bay window. I would consider painting the front door another color.
The portico is beautiful and door style is too.

You've got a Cape Cod style home. You need to get the best color for your front door, which will pull attention from the bricks to the door. You have to examine your bricks, decide on a dominant hue and get paint in that same color. I can see when I enlarge this photo, how your front door color doesn't relate to anything in the brick.

There are also ways to pull attention to landscaping so that the whole view straight on is very attractive.

Painted brick is a maintenance nightmare. Your door is relatively easy to repaint. As a visual demo of what @puremichigan60 said, here are 3 colours:

- the leftmost is the average door colour in your picture

- the middle is the average brick colour in your picture

- the rightmost is the middle colour with it's saturation pushed way up (ie a brighter, more intense version of the average brick colour)

So you can see the door colour is too pinky/blue for the brick.

I agree with everyone who says do not paint the brick. The front door just needs a different colour. Take a close look at the brick and choose a different colour within the brick staying away from orange or red. Very pretty house!

Your portico addition is a beautiful choice. I love the way it echoes not only the roofline of the dormers but the arches in your windows as well. I agree that it would be best to remove the shutters from the bay window-it will help balance the two sides of the house. IMO, painting your brick will completely take away the character and classic beauty of your home. A door color that mimics the one of the darker colors in your brick will look lovely, as would a dark teal with both blue and green undertones like BM's Mallard Green.

Leave the brick alone. Put the money and effort into insulating your attic. It's insufficient.

The bad thing about finding the right color for my front door, and seeing how it popped - is how I need to beef up other parts of my facade, because they fade away in comparison. This is Ben Moore's Ravishing Red (has a hint of orange)

Once you find that "it" color, paint your lower level shutters with it. Remove the shutters on the upper level.

I think you just need to repaint your door (and shutters) - navy would look smart; give BM Hale Navy a try.

You did a nice job of painting the door; too bad it's the wrong color. Fortunately, repainting the door will be a lot easier than painting the brick. If you're set on red, I'd go a deep rusty color, more on the brown side.

Or you could do a deep charcoal, green that's almost black, or my personal favorite, navy which seems to match your shutters.

I removed the shutters from the bay window. Good news: one less thing to paint!

It beautiful I'd leave it as is.

Please don't paint the brick. It's a big part of what makes your home classic. Just want to echo no shutters on bay window..senseless. Eventually, you might think about adding a front door with glass panes across the top that mimic your windows.

I like this Ben Moore color with brick...Tarrytown Green.

You have a gorgeous classic house. Do not ever think about painting the brick. Your new portico looks wonderful!

I like it just the way it is! Very nice, don't paint it! I do agree to remove the shutters from the bay window (I know you didn't ask!). I think the door is fine too, but if anything I agree to paint the door before painting the bricks!

Beautiful home. Well done on the front stoop.

No, please, don't paint the brick. If you truly hate it as is, check out the new brick stain instead of paint or whitewash.

DO NOT paint the brick this is a beautiful home painting the brick will make it look cheap I would however remove the shutters from the bay window they are not right for that window it needs nothing. ( shutters should only go and be the size that if needed they actually would cover the window) I would add a tall black planter on eith side of the stepps planted with wahtever goes with the season.

no i wouldnt do it

Its a classic as is, but if you're desperate for a change, consider doing a German mortar smear on it. See it at magnoliamarket.com The HGTV show "Fixer Upper" featured it recently. Here's a before and after.

Leave the brick, the black shutters on the one window would look better in white, matches your trims

Painting bricks is a hard job and you may not like it afterwards. However, white or light grey would be nice if you have it done by a pro. The idea of lime wash the bricks is a good one.

i would say never do!

Please don't change anything.

Painted brick is a fad that will look dated in 20 years, red brick is classic. I vote for dark rich blue for door and shutters.

More German Schmear...

I've seen the house decoenthusiaste just posted. Talk about charming!

Paint the door Chinese Red. It would pop, and it's lucky!

I like the picture that groveraxle posted with the blue front door. I don't think the brick needs painted...your house is charming with the brick as is!

Update: we decided on a mortar wash. Not quite finished, but it looks excellent! The pictures actually don't do it justice.

Update: the German Schmear

I think your home could benefit if you had been a bit more heavy-handed in your application.

I think the change looks nice. If I have to be honest, I hate the front door. The color is so dark and the style is very dated. I think it would look beautiful with a color that pops or even a muted grey or something. But the style is very 90s in my opinion.

Very nice! Good for you.

We agree take off the bay window shutters and find a color that does not compete with the brick.

Maybe a new light fixture to bring it more up to date.

Suzanne, I really like the look of your mortar wash. Could you share which product you used and the difficulty of application? Also, how is it holding up now? Does it streak with rain patterns?

We used white cement and sand to mix mortar, then we applied it to the bricks with sponges, allowed it to dry a bit and washed it off with water. It was very Labor intensive and messy work but we are very happy with it and it is holding up very well. I like it even better in the rain because when it's wet more brick shows through. Thank you for your compliments!

The brick looks great, but the balance is still off. Plant a holley tree (evergreen)between the window and the corner. Keep it trimmed and shaped below the edge of the roof and consider another plant that would grow about halfway up the wall between the window and the door with lower plantings in front. Look into ways to beef up the window to the right to make it seem larger. Possibly adding wider molding around it, a window box with shutters that extend to the bottom of it. Red is a hard color to nail the first time.

I think white shutters on small window will better balance with the larger window. The door could be the color opposite of the brick on the color wheel.

Leave the brick alone. Fine-tune the door colour.