You have a typical ranch house with traditional detailing. The bay window and the brick make it lean toward traditional in style. If you want to give it a mid-century modern look like the photo you show in the comment above, I think you might have to lose the bay window and perhaps also lose the brick facing. Given that your roof has red-ish tones, you may have to stay within earth-tone colors for siding. See some inspiration photos, below:

If I wanted to emphasize the traditional and work with the bay window, what could I do to make the exterior look better?

Then I would maybe go in an arts & crafts/prairie style direction instead of a modern one. That way you could save the brick, or go over it with stacked stone. See below:

Thank you, everyone!!! I'd love to stick traditional if I can and thanks for the inspiration. Any other ideas for a traditional facelift?

can you show a pic of the area under the bow window? Is there a sidewalk?

I think that double hung Windows will make your home much more traditional than the current Windows. Also, changing the siding to horizontal would help. Even the bay window could be replaced by side-by-side double hungs.

grapefruit....not sure that siding is possible at this point $$!!! any other more simple fix suggestions?! thank you :)

You could also post this in Home Decorating. You'll get more responses there.

I'd take those bushes out andplant some kind of boxier bushes on the left under those 2 Windows to camoflauge how high they are compared to the others.

since the brick has both light and dark earth tones to it, it would be safe going with a gray it will destract the dated brick look of the reddish roof and would bring out the gray tones in the brick and roof bringing a more modern appeal. I would do a mid grey with black front door bright white trims and I would paint the garage door white also.

OK, like I said before, definitely get rid of those evergreens by the sidewalk. I was going to suggest double hung windows and horizontal siding, but that's big $$. If that's not in your budget right now painting it greige would go a long way.

I would consider painting the siding a warm mid grey, possibly the mortar color. I would not do the garage doors white, they will be too prominent. but two shades darker than the siding might work. I would try painting the man door and it's trim the same as your siding to help it disappear. Replace the front windows with simple double hung, no grills, or casement with awning style opening, (2 fixed and 2 casement awning in the large window or 4 double hung) and beefy trim. If you have to wait for new windows, paint the surrounding trim white in the meantime. I wouldn't try to 'theme' the exterior necessarily, you have a simple gable roof, keep everything else simple and fresh. The photos below show the impact of new windows and trim. No shutters please.

Have a landscaping plan done, anything in front of the large window needs to be low. You might want to add another photo from the road, do you have any trees in front?

The stone at the bottom of the foundation in your one photo, is that adhered or loose? I would not add any stone to this house. How much brick is on the rear of the house?

I would loose the brick and get an overhang going on over the bow window

Reside in vertical rough sawn roasted poplar

Thank you so much, Betty! I will post another photo in a minute. The stone is there just laid. We are getting landscaping done in the spring so I'm just going to leave everything as is until he gives us professional opinion!!! Can you specify what you mean by the color you suggest? I am really wanting a white and I'm less of a fan of gray but am open to it. I was thinking a color similar to the house in the second photo you posted. And with white trim?

Clearly there is not one answer. Hopefully something will resonate with you. A suggestion to post in landscape, there are some super talented folks there. I’d also argue against double hung, the casements are more expected IMHO. If there was a horizontal roof over the bay window, that may suit the overall architecture better than the existing curved roof. Good luck.

What kind of windows are in the rest of the house? I agree that traditional double hung windows could give the house a more traditional feel. Since you don't have room for shutters, you might consider adding window boxes under the two windows. Removing the shrubs is a great idea. A good landscape designer can help you come up with a plan that can be executed over time. I don't think gray will work with your roof but the suggestion of a greige is a good one. I have a roof with some red tones in it and the greige I painted looks quite good with it. Painting the garage doors the same color as the house body will help it disappear. If you decide to replace the front windows, I would make sure the trim was wider and do them in a sand tone. You could then paint the white portion of the bow window in the same color. Hope this helps!

I did Sherwin Williams Perfect Greige at 75%.

Great advice given already. I like the idea of a warmed tone over the gray because of the roof and brick color. I also gravitate towards warm colors over greys and cool tones, so take that for what it's worth. However... the current color is too matchy-matchy IMO and you need some contrast. I also think the white frames on the windows stand out too much.

Maybe a nice cream color would work if greige or taupe doesn't. I have the exact same bricks on my house and the trim is a yellowish-cream. Then you could add a colorful front door.

I would get some Hardie Board samples just for the color selection. They spend a lot of time, effort and money to get their color selection right. I believe Sherwin Williams paints have the codes to color match. Cobble stone might be worth a look for your siding if you are looking for a light color. Monterey Taupe if you want darker. The website is well worth looking at for the photo gallery of homes.

Would you describe your roof color similar to 'new cedar'? If you don't have more brick on the home than what is showing on the front, I would consider painting it. Just to be clear, I would remove the bay window and it's roof and replace it with a 'flat' window.

And switch to recessed soffit lighting instead of the spotlights!

Thank you so much beanie and Bette!!! agree with the lighting. Don't like those spotlights!! The roof is the cedar color (I believe the word cedar is in the name of the shingles :). I personally hate the brick and I'm happy you agree to paint it ;) Thank you SO much!

Beanie-- were you saying a yellow creme for just trim or for whole house?

Yellow cream for the house if you want to keep the brick. I think that would work better than just a cream trim and give the biggest bang for your buck. The siding options are nice too. I like the monterrey taupe.

Brick and roof go together well... by intention Im sure. The yellow siding.... well.... not a fan. I would take one of the darker browns/charcoals from the brick and paint siding that color - would give the house more cohesive look - plus cream for trim (more flattering of red brick than stark white).

Also as others have mentioned tackle the landscaping now - get your beds established, your trees/shrubs in the ground and growing. Also stain the concrete steps some compatible color.

Then, long term work on your master plan - roof colors, windows - really taking time to come up with good budget and design. It sounds to me like your immediate goal is getting your exterior more presentable/appealing now but may not have budget for extensive re-doing of things..? Actually if youve moved in recently, its often recommended to live with a house for a while before committing to major overhauls.

I'd paint the garage doors same as the house especially the door next to the garage doors and paint the front door with a pop of color