There is a lot going on with the front of your house. Would not do a lot of different colors - maybe use a grey, tan or a sage green for the trim and shutters. I would use a different shade or color for the trim vs shutters. For the siding - maybe a different shade of what you decide on for the other colors.

Paint the siding the dominate shade of the brick which is ???hrough the speckled shade, a bit hard to determine. Than find the right shade of brown that is complimentary, for your eaves and remove the shutters, but you may have to deal with brick that is not the same tones as you see outside the shutters due to ----and the brick trim above the windows may be missing? he brick that would have been there? So you might have a plan for that. You likely will not like the price of windows that are not white, so I warn you now..make sure your exterior view of window dressing inside the home is balanced or similar on the front for sure, of your home..If Ifind the name of brown and siding paint, will post asap.

Some colors to try on:

I like grover's second one in charcoal. Eliminating the shutters would be #1 priority.

I like the shutters gone and I am beginning to appreciate some brown with red brick hues more than gray in exteriors because it is less used overall now and I think the browns have more blends or variety, that look richer than just muddy like the browns of earlier years? The roof color has to be right tho nd I still favor a gray or gray blend than a solid dark brown.. Such a nice home!

LOoks great without the shutters and I like the 1st picture with a brown trim

This is a very interesting point about the shutters. It never dawned on me that of course they should be wider to suit the windows. But who are we kidding, they are obviously stuck on there and nonfunctional & to be wide enough would be ludicrous. I definitely believe that it is all in the details that make a space go from ordinary to extraordinar. Perhaps the missized shutters have been offending me all along with my realizing. I do think that the headers without the shutters look odd? I was leaning towards removing those. I am worried about the discoloration left behind the shutters, they have likely been there 30 years. I am concerned that although they are not wide enough that it will look like a bad tan line once removed. I appreciate you showing me some options! I am not feeling the love for the brown. It looks dated to me. I could entertain a greige or taupe. I would like the exterior to nod to the aesthetics I have inside. Mostly soft gray, charcoal, white, almost-black navy with warm woods in a mix of styles from mid-century to victorian. I love how different things stand out to different people, which is why I posted here. Especially when I have been looking at the house for too long & am unable to see exactly what the problem is. Also, the little window at the top is fake in the attic. Thinking of covering with maybe a louvered vent?

I almost think one of the shutters could cover that fake attic window. I do like the way the headers fade away when they are painted that brown that almost matches the brick. I'd say to give removal of those and the shutters a try. The brick behind may not be as different as you expect. Try it first on the little fake window where it won't be such a big deal and where it really needs to be done.

It is possible that HOA will demand the shutters stay.

Interesting...not all the houses in my neighborhood have shutters. ?

Good to hear. The windows are really too wide for shutters.

Love Grover’s rendering with charcoal trim. Definitely lose the shutters!

Were the window headers original? I wonder if the house was finished properly behind them so that they can be removed. My neighbor’s house has them and they’ve been one more thing to maintain.

I like grover’s charcoal #2 house and #5 white.

your biggest asset is the front door/side lights. removing the shutters is a must, removing the window headers may open a whole big can of worms. the brick color will dominate the result, and i doubt if you will reach your goal of unique. I would go dark on all of it. good luck.

How about black trim?

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I have considered Black or maybe a charcoal like farrow & ball down pipe. What color do I do the siding if I go black for the trim? What about the trim around the entry? Thanks!

As for the headers, the windows are finished behind. I am already missing one in the center second story window. I will start by removing the shutters. My husband tried to remove & said it would be tricky but can be done, they have been painted over many times. Hopefully themore wont be tons of paint & adhesive left behind underneath.

Does anyone have any ideas for adding more appropriate character back in after shutters are gone? I don’t want to spend a lot but maybe a couple hundred dollars to beef up the mounding around the door? Add dentil mounding? Would a simple Corbel at the roofline peaks work? I am thinking about a window box on the center second story window.

I would go with the bronze windows - that will give you more the dark victorian look plus better relate to the red brick (white + red brick can look kinda cheesy). Then get a color similar to or relates well to the bronze. Keep it simple - nature colors (greens, browns, bronzes, greiges) are good with masonry. Simplicity is the beauty of this house imho - it doesnt have a bunch of weird goofy rooflines and other excesses of mid 1990s architecture. The doorway is very attractive -perhaps you could accentuate that by painting the trim within the alcove same color but a shade darker than the other trim.

I dont know if you gain anything by removing the shutters - with some houses thats true (esp MCM) but not a traditional house. Its quite OK to use them intentionally as decorative features, as they have been used for many decades, dare I say centuries. We havent needed to actually close shutters since glass windows came into use. Maybe if you had a beach house you were closing up for the winter theyd be useful.... and there the functionality of them would be part of the attractiveness of the house. Yeah its a minority opinon around here, but there you ahve it.

Ps - I would say "no" to adding on all the extraneous gack. Again, its a nice house and often less is more. Notice the detailing you DO have - the brickwork at the corners, the moldings above the windows, the nice sized eaves. Your trim is beefy enough and you dont want to start throwing on a lot of odd sizes and shapes.