We used a charcoal grey on our old craftsman and it looked great. Used a crisp white (no cream) for trim for clean contrast. I think what you have done looks great. I can see the side with the parking pad could use some work. Do you need to keep that for parking. I would suggest maybe removing some of it closest to the house and doing a garden bed. It lacks some dimension on that side, so I would put some plants with varying heights/texture. This would also help to disguise the mismatch window placement. I could give you some plant suggestions if that area gets more sun or shade. Do you know what plant zone you're in? I think a nice evergreen tree would look nice to the right of the house on the side (there is a nice slow growing evergreen tree that gets to be about 8-ft. called a false hinoki cypress. It's a slender tree so doesn't get too wide). If you use that side area for BBQ'ing, you could make a flag stone patio area to the right and edge it with plants to give some barrier from parking pad. And do another garden bed to the left. It's a beautiful home! Have fun.

Sounds like you are trying to keep historical era in house. There are specific colours used on craftsman era homes. Search that out in Ideabooks and online thru google search. Benjamin Moore has historic colour palette, as do other paint companies now. Review what paint combo suggestions they have.....

@ westmanmarine- thank you for the input, really helpful! We are in zone 5, I like your idea that some landscaping in place of the concrete would really help dress up the front. I'm glad to hear that gray has worked for your craftsman home, I have really liked the darker grays on homes but haven't seen any on that era.

Couple other questions...I thought that the area by the concrete pad was the side of the house, with the porch as the front. Is that wrong? Does the concrete area get more sun or more shade?

The concrete pad is at the front of the house and is very shaded and very blah. Here is an old picture taken from the driveway

That picture helps. I would also add a little cover for the front door, to make it more welcoming and look more like the front entrance, something like below. Maybe add a nice craftman light to hang under the cover or on house to right of door. A cool copper mailbox would be charming too, with a nice large cermaic pot to the left of the door.


https://www.houzz.com/photos/1940s-colonial-revival-remodel-exterior-traditional-exterior-minneapolis-phvw-vp~978763

As for plants, hydrangeas, hostas, astilbes, Japanese maples, Japanese forest grass, ferns (japanese painted ferns are pretty...pictured below) and hellebores are all good shade plant choices. Here's some pics:


(hellebores):

Here's what the false hinoki cypress (slender) tree looks like (zones 4-8): http://www.europeannursery.com/cpg134/displayimage.php?album=9&pos=18

Looks like a nice retreat you have!

Larger window and door trim with big window sills, Real beautiful wood front and back doors not home depot garbage, and a better looking flu for that chimney that thing is the first thing you look at in the picture, and copper gutters if you can afford copper use like a galvinized not painted aluminum do things to get the neighbors to say wow and something you will be proud of the gutters will be like extra trim moldings. Have fun with your house it sounds like you inconvenienced now but nows the time to do things you wouldn't have if it wasn't for the fire.. If your a Christmas person don't forget to run an outlet somewhere under the eve of the roof and connect it to switch if possible.

I think you are fixing the house like you should. Remodeling a house is expensive. This is a common house so pictures are plentiful. Landscaping would finish this off nicely.

I really like the hellebores, just beautiful, and the would really stand out against grey siding!

@ Michael393- your right the the larger trim would make a big difference, it's so thin now that it's barely noticeable. As with the flu we were thinking of continuing the brick up from the chimney and possibly covering all of it in river rock(the latter sounds like a lot of work though!)

Does anyone have any input on exterior colors other than grey? I like the grey but I want to make sure I've considered some other color options before I settle on it, maybe a muted aqua with cream trim?

Try the Kelly Moore color Western acoustic

Perhaps you could use some pottery in bright colors to liven up the place a bit? We have a company (www.casabonitala.com) that sell's handmade terra cotta pottery and have many pieces you could place on the porch or in the yard to add some character to the house. We are currently having a holiday sale- 65% off all inventory until Dec 31st, so the pieces are extremely affordable. Here are some ideas that might work for you:

Here are some more pictures:

I assume the third photo shows the new "front" door to your home, and this looks much better than the end of the house with the brick chimney and the many windows, The trim needs to be considerably wider to be in the craftsman style, and I believe bright white trim would contrast well with the gray siding and dark roof and roof trim. i do hope you can find solid-wood craftsman-style entry doors to complete the craftsman look if that is what you want.