I love your brick. The light makes it appear a beige, but than in other photos I think it is a rose hue....white mixed into a lot of red. It is the brick of some very nice homes in this area!! It is a great quality of brick. Do not alter it. Painting the roof similar to a Charcoal Gray, that is the color of the Mueller Metal Roof, will make your brick look very different!! That would be the color of the asphalt shingles which the homes in this area have on this brick. It is a medium gray tone, not a blue or purple gray tone, but a pure gray under the bright sun, the paint will be a color, but not a washed out color as many lesser pigment paints are, while the blacks or burnished browns absorb the heat and appear DARKER, this medium gray will be perfect compliment to your brick. Than, yes, the shutter of the louvre design, fight with the mortar lines of your brick. That is part of the problem. You would like a panel style shutter much better, but IF you are replaceing windows, do NOT with a wider window, but put 2 windows where 1 currently is, and put 3 windows, where 2 currently are, if you omit the shutters. That way you fill in the gap in the brick wall and you have windows you will be able to open much easier. NOW, when you do this, do not have a wooden frame put between 2 windows, on the inside and than have to be painted on the exterior. You order from the factory joints, called Mullions I think? that are of the same frame material as the window on the right exterior side. It will allow 2 windows to be joined and function seperately, but you won't have the hassle of paying someone to dry wall or wood trim inside the house and wood trim on the exterior. It will look like you planned it that way. ALSO, you will NOT need to pay for(faux) divided light, if that is an extra fee, just enjoy the windows as they are, no 'panes' in them for a more contemporary look(and less money too). Divided Light is a trim feature to make wide windows appear less like a wall of glass, and with having 3 windows or 2 windows in your openings minus the shutters, your windows will just be gorgeous and make your home exterior look so much less cluttered...no shutter louvres and no window divided light panes........You will probably want to stay with white windows and that will be good. You want to keep your exterior trim in the white family, a very rich white hue, not a 'weak' white. You can see the difference in the paint samples. I LOVE your brick because that tone is a red clay with a complete balance of white intermingled into it. It is beautiful with dusty green plants(like Lambs Ear or Dusty Miller if they like your soils/temps), holly with berry bushes, Yaupon Holly, all kinds of pink or red geraniums, and your choice of other grasses and bushes. It will be a total new look with the gray roof and the absent shutters, and non-divided light windows. You will be so thrilled with it. You do not want to ever paint or German Schmear brick, it inhibits it's ability to breathe, as they write, and in your environment moisture that goes into the area between the brick and the wall coating/sheeting, needs to be able to trickle out thru the drain holes in the mortar. The only kind of brick color alteration would be called staining. I have seen it done and it took the 60's red and alternate white bricks into the 80's/90's, with tones of sage green, coral, cream and rose. It was very pretty. Your brick is not that starke. Your brick just needs fewer exterior lines to fight with and a complimentary medium gray roof to bring it full circle by some nice plants and bushes. Good luck. It will be an awesome reveal for your family! Keep us posted? Thanks!!!

There are many articles online about Lime and Brick. This is the first one I read. It gave tips on applying the Lime. Again, this brick is very defined so they Limed it, in color I mean. While yours is very soft naturally, so Lime on it will just remove the color, which is already very soft..https://segretofinishes.com/segreto/2014/04/28/a-limewashed-facelift-for-my-exterior.html            and I thought this was quite interesting, since you mentioned your interior is changing too. I don't know who or where these folks are, but maybe you see something you can mimic yourself? Quite the artists at work here! <http://artstarcustompaintworks.squarespace.com/before-after/>; Your brick is not defined by harsh contrasting colored mortar lines like so many of the Limed Brick pictures I see just looking online, to note. The tin ceilings and faux beam work was pretty neat!

Yes, remove the shutters and windows to replace them with larger size windows.

It would help you imagine the new look if you removed the shrubs now.

I would leave the brick alone. It looks beautiful as it is.

Keep the trim white, also the porch area as light as possible.