Hi C. What a coincidence. I just posted a similar question about my aluminum siding/brick home. I'll be keeping an eye on any suggestions you get. Best wishes on your curb appeal.

If by modern you mean something that will last a maximum of 3-5 years, then by all means, paint your brick gray. If you want something classy and timeless, keep as is!

Could you step back a little further and get the whole house in the frame please? Upload the new photo in a new comment on this thread.

For your consideration: You could make the front entrance more prominent by adding a forward facing gable over the door beginning at the post left of the door , with the peak over the post to the right of the door. Then by extending the gable forward, beyond the existing porch and garage, and continuing the lower part of the right side of the gable in front of the garage, you could cover steps directly from the driveway immediately front of the garage to the front porch.

http://inhomeremodel.com/portfolio_images/exterior1.jpg

Then you could continue with a shed roof overhang or arbor over the garage to extend forward as far as you've extended the gable, linking the shed roof or arbor to the bottom right edge of the gable.

http://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/a8b1827f01143154_4-7852/traditional-shed.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/bc/2f/e8/bc2fe8770c29c5b0d4661608a68300e4.jpg

Agree with sews more; don't paint the brick.

The two-story part of your home has a case of

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia.

You may want to paint the garage door the same color you choose for the wood siding if pareidolia is not your intent.

humor:

http://imgur.com/KUEIlhi

https://www.reddit.com/r/paredolia/?

Some info about painting brick:

http://www.protectpainters.com/our-blog/2014/march/painting-exterior-brick-what-to-know-before-you-/

http://houseandhome.com/yay-or-nay-painting-a-brick-facade/

first thing I would suggest is remove the lowest branch on tree that juts out toward drive..take it back to main trunk.

then if you don't paint the brick, paint the posts the grey color of the house to pull that color in and give more depth to porch area.

a arched planting bed that runs from left porch corner to the side walk would help guide your eye toward the door..leave your stepping stones where they are..make it a stroll through the garden there.

I agree with RubyRoses above. I think it would look nice if you removed the lower branch so the tree wouldn't look like it's leaning towards the driveway. Also maybe removing the arches over the entry might make it look more modern?

I notice a significant trip hazard where the front walk meets the sidewalk. This is a litigation world. Fix that walkway, or beef up your insurance.

It would be helpful if had a better idea of the style you are looking for. You said you wanted it more modern. Do you mean mid-century modern like a 60's look? Or just less of a country look and more contemporary?

Thanks everyone for all the ideas. The tree will be removed in a few weeks. It was damaged during hurricane Sandy and has never recovered.

I'm looking for more of a contemporary look and less country.

I'm not a big fan of painted bricks either but, I've seen it done many times on remodeling shows on television and it looked pretty good.

There are also stains for brick. I would think that stains would be less upkeep than paint, since a stain won't chip off. Is there brick on the back and side of your house too, or only on the front? The front looks so sheltered that paint might last a long time without a touch up.

I can see why you would want to paint it. The 2 sides of your house look very different, even the roof line.

You might want to leave the tree. It does add something to your landscaping. If you decide to remove the tree branches on the right, now is the time to do it, before the leaves come out.

It's hard to tell from the picture what color your siding is, but a mix of similar neutral colors might look nice. Something like this, which is painted brick. If you click on the notes below the picture, it tells you the colors used.

Can you take a picture with the sun shining on the front of your house?

Our brick is painted :) excuse the dog and child in window

The siding is grey and the brick is only in the front.

I wouldn't hesitate to paint the brick. And if you do need to re-paint, the amount is so small that it's not a big deal at all. And since it's so sheltered, it will last longer that if it were exposed to the weather. Do you like the look that I pictured above, with the garage door and trim a slightly darker color than the siding and painted brick?

If you're wanting to paint the brick you should go for it. We painted our brick over 10 yrs ago and haven't had any problems.

I would not paint the brick. It really is not ruining the look of the house and I just see no reason to do it. The first thing I would do is remove the arches above the porch posts. Then paint the beam and posts off white. The dark color is just blending into the bricks. My second observation is the color of the garage. The garage is forward of the house and is therefore more prominent. It should not be lighter than the brick. I would like it to be the same tone or darker. You want people to notice the entrance, not the garage. Dark things appear smaller.

I suggest a new storm door which is more like what many people use now. They hide less of the primary door. Then paint both doors a color, like sage green perhaps. Here is the type of door I mean.

The face of your house is very dark. Does it face North? I do not like the dark garage door. As was mentioned earlier it looks like a gaping maw. I would paint it the color of the siding.

I am very curious about your lifted path. It is a hazard. Do you know why it lifted?

The scalloped wood fascia above the porch posts should be replaced with a straight horizontal board if you wish to create a more modern look.

i happen to like painted brick. Go for it!

This is probably the worst drawing I have ever made. Still, it serves to show the beam and posts painted white and the garage door painted to match the house. I think both seem more modern.

Hi Alison! I love that grey and it looks lovely. Our house was built in 1957 and it's the original brick. Not sure it would make a difference. Your bricks look new. I'm not knowledgeable about this stuff. What did your brick look like before it was painted? Do you have a picture?

I'm sending some new pictures of my home that I just took.

Hello Emmarene,

I love your suggestions. The house is very dark. We are not sure about the lifted path. When we moved in it was like that. I'm thinking the previous owners replaced half the sidewalk. So half is new other half is old and it didn't line up. Honestly I'm not sure. We will have a contractor take a look at it. Here is a before picture of our house . Like the new storm door idea.

Hello Partim,

I took some new pictures. Will attach some new ones when and if the sun comes up. It's going to be a cloudy day.

A quick improvement would be to paint the garage door & the wooden porch trim to match the grey siding. Get rid of the leaning tree branch & the solar lights on the right side of the path. Intersperse shrubs & flowers along the left side of the path & leave a few solar lights there.
If you wanted to go further, you could beef up the columns & add a nice railing. I would leave the brick alone.

Lol, seems like an even split on the brick, but if it's just on front of the house..I would paint it.
The sidewalk damage looks to me like at one time there was a large street side tree and the root lifted the sidewalk.

If this is a look that you like, you can achieve it.

One big element of this style is that there is not a high contrast between the main colors of the house and the trims. The trims are darker shades of the main body of the house. You can achieve that by painting the garage door, shutters and wood trims a darker gray.

There's no way you will achieve this look by keeping the brick color. I understand the people who are saying that it will need to be repainted at some point, but it is well sheltered and it is a very very small area. It will make a huge difference in modernizing the look if you paint it the siding color. I'd use gray stain, which is less slippery than paint, to stain the porch bricks. And yes, you'll may need to touch it up every so often. A small job.

Your front door can be any contrasting color that you like. They used orange in the picture above but with your gray, any color you like would work. It would look great to repeat the color in chair cushions or chairs on your front porch, and in flowers or shrubs in your landscaping. For example, a yellow door with daffodils in the spring, yellow roses in summer, yellow mums in the fall. Yellow and gray look great together.

Agree that the curved trim would look better removed, or covered over with something straight, but that wouldn't be my priority. In the first picture I posted, do you like the look of the eyebrow pergola over the garage? I think it would look great on your house because break up the flatness of the right side and give it dimension.

When we bought the house the brick had actually been painted red! It was atrocious. The brick is on just the front part of our house and the rest is stucco. Our brick is a slightly darker grey than the rest of the house. It's been painted for eight years now and we've done nothing in terms of upkeep. We live in Vancouver where it rains all the time and no issues at all.

Thank you Partim and Alison. Great ideas. I love the look and yellow happens to be my favorite color. I can work with this .

@Alison Sharpe- your brick looks great and the child and dog add to the charm of your house. No need to "excuse" them.

I like the look of painted brick in the right setting, and sometimes tire of the anti-painting comments. No one ever advises against painting wood siding because it may need to be redone in five to ten years, yet that is often suggested as a "con" for painting brick. If you like the look, go for it. It's a given that home ownership will always require maintenance.

I don't think the problem is with the brick, but with the red shutters and trim.

The problem with using paint products on brick and mortar, or other masonry, is that it needs to "breathe". Look for specific products for that application, not wood paint.

My only comment about painting brick is if you do use a product meant specifically for brick/masonry. I think the area to the right of the brick is going to be your biggest headache or your biggest reward.

From comments so far it looks like you prefer the body of the house to be one color, which I think would look great. If you do paint/stain the brick I would think about bring it over and use it on the wall along the side of your driveway. I don't know if I would use it on the planter box. It might be too much of a good thing and end up looking flat. I think facing the planter box with cedar would be a wow and give you the right kind of contrast. It would give your exterior a much more cohesive look and I think give you the biggest bang for your buck.

I agree that a suspended arbor over the garage doors would give you some nice curb appeal. I'd add a light fixture to each side of the garage as well.

Unless you have that long low mid century facade soldiering path lights don't look inviting. At least to me. I prefer to cluster them. Your walk isn't that long you might be able to get away with three groupings. A small shrub, a flowering plant or two and a nice sized landscape stone, You could also add a planter to one of the groupings for height and interest. I'd use the planter for seasonal plantings. If you're going to keep the tree I would add an up-light.

Your steps look like they could stand some attention. I like the inspiration pic partim posted. The added detail of a contrasting material along the stair risers isn't hard or expensive but it gives you a great look. I've told my husband for years value and resale is about details. Slate tile is typically easy on budgets and would look good on your risers.

I also agree if you can swing it beef up the posts and exterior trim pieces, new hardware (same finish) and spring for a new for either a new front door or a glass storm door. I'd love to see finish pic's. Good luck.

Has anyone mentioned that the tree should be to the far left of the yard rather than it's current location? This would help balance the house. My eyes are drawn to the garage and not the front door. IMO changing the trim color to a cohensive gray really helped h look of the house.

groveraxle nailed it. The trim and garage door were the issue.

Groveraxle the picture you showed was great. I think I have a plan. I like the arbor over the garage area which some of you mentioned. I will try to work that into the plan. I'm not sure how expensive that is to do.

We think it would help to add more landscaping to balance out the tree in the front yard.

JS

Yes I think I need more landscaping ideas. JS shared some ideas but I need a visual. I can't picture it just yet. I just learned what a arbor was two days ago. But I'm learning.