Here's my favorite update to a Garrison Colonial like yours. You should have come to Houzz before buying shutters. They are appropriate on single windows, not doubles or bay windows. I would remove and sell them, letting the wide frames define your windows. To achieve this look, paint the brick and siding all one color. Gray or Greige would be a good pick with your roof color. Beef up the pencil posts supporting your porch roof and remove the snap-in arches in the garage windows. I'm not a fan of this landscaping or yours. Tackle that next.

Wings that is a lovely house and has great curb appeal. Once you paint brick there is no going back, and having said that, I admit to painting my pink/tan brick house this summer. The siding will take paint well. I think you need wider shutters up top and can lose the new shutters on the big lower window. Maybe both lower windows. Box in the skinny porch supports. Go to the paint store or HD or Lowe’s to get ideas on paint combos. They will have brochures etc. you may consider adding a porch railing if that appeals to you.

Nice house and pretty setting! I'm usually not one for painting brick, but deco's pix are so nice! Sorry, I totally agree with no shutters on bay and double windows. Each shutter should be wide enough to cover half the window, whether decorative or functional. That would look odd on double windows. Shutters on bay windows especially make no sense.

I love the gray greige paint idea. This was our plan if we decided to paint rather that stain. Ok..help me understand the shutter situation. I agree with the bay window (hubby did that..lol). But I should remove the upper shutters completely or just replace them with wider ones?

Remove the upper shutters, and, as deco suggested, have wide white trim around the windows. Also, when you can, replace the 'sunburst' window frames on the garage door with some that mimic the panes in your house windows, such as 3 squares across in each section. That can make an impact when a garage faces the front.

https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/residential-architecture-101-shutters/

Anyone skilled at photoshop? I'd love to see the house a greige color with shutters removed and possibly any other creative ideas to boost this house. I tried to edit my original post, but was not able to for some reason. Houzz newbie, still learning...but love the input I am receiving. Thanks for the help!

I love these transformations! I like the dramatic entrance, but unfortunately do not want to lose our porch as we use it a lot. What else could be done?

Oy with the greige. Almost every house built or painted these days is some shade of grey. how about lose all shutters, keep the brick, lovely cream or dark sage on clapboard. Here is a neighbor'S house whose color scheme works so well with brick. I wouldnt do this on your house but you see how the right colors look so good with brick. Note the lack of shutters

If you paint the brick, Romabio makes a great product that is meant for masonry. No more expensive than acrylic or oil and it looks great with a 20 yr warranty. We used it on a rental we owned and it was great.

High quality wood doors would be the #1 best highest impact investment outside of simply removing the shutters.

Greige is the new fade I suppose. I am sure it will run its course and look outdated at some point. If we paint, this would not be a total concern since over time it would need to be repainted. We debated for the longest time about keeping the brick as is and trying to find something that works with it, but in the end decided we dislike the pink tone of the brick. We are trying to decide if we should paint the brick or stain it. If we paint it, we would plan for the brick and siding to be the same color. If we stain it, we could have any color or tone of brick, but we are not 100% on still having the split in half look that we currently have.

I like brick on a house, but I agree yours looks pink ( in the photo ). I would stain It rather than paint it. I think it adds texture & interest to the house. Other than beefing up those posts I don’t think it needs any structural changes ( except for removing some or all of the shutters, especially the one on the bay window.

Often the grills over garage door windows are removable and perhaps replaceable. Try taking them off to see what a difference it makes. I agree with the suggestions to replace the shutters with wide trim.

i also think that the single line of meatball shaped shrubs does nothing for the house; plain grass would look better and a well-designed garden would go a long way towards making house look attractive and welcoming. Try posting on the Landscape design forum once you have worked out house colors. You don’t want to replant the garden until work has finished in order to avoid damaging new plantings. Widen the walkway, or at least the landing in front of the door so he it is the full width between the porch posts. It currently looks pinched and requires visitors to approach single file. Beef up the porch posts visually, with replacing them or just adding a wrap or casing to make them appear more substantial.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/landscape-design-discussions-dsbr0-bd~t_29774

To my eye one of the issues with your current paint color is the high contrast with the brick. I would first try out a range of paints with similar depth of color, especially muted reds, browns, and grays to see how if you can find a color that looks good with your current brick color. The big paint companies such as Sherwin Williams have apps that allow you to upload a photo and try out different paint colors. Remember that you can darken the trim as well if you want to. Brick is a low maintenance material, so before deciding to paint it, I would explore other options just to be sure you want to take on that chore of repainting the entire house every few years rather than just some of it.

I actually like the brick. What puts everything off, is the current siding color. It looks like you took the top off the house and put another house on top of it. The siding needs to blend with the brick, and what you have doesnt. I also have to agree, about all those little round shrubs. They do nothing for your landscape. Another color for the siding, and some landscaping, and you will have a beautiful home. Good Luck.

NHBabs thanks for all the suggestions. We didn't even realize that the garage grills were removable until Deco pointed it out. They are going to be removed this weekend! I agree that the landscape needs some professional help! That will be tackled after the house is finished. I love the thought of doing something different with the walkway. I will check out some options to beef up the porch post. Would you suggest square or round? We have considered staining the brick instead of painting it due to maintenance.

please don't judge my horrid ability at 3d paint! Thoughts on this?

I'm usually hesitant about painting brick - but usually only when it's an older house (built in 1940 or before). Your brick is more of a 1960s/1970s brick, and kind of looks dated - in which case I wholeheartedly agree with your idea to paint it. I love the second set of pics you posted - the gray/white/black combo. It is more timeless than the one from decoenthusiaste, which I love but I feel could eventually look worn or dated. The gray and white combo with the black shutters looks great and should never fall out of style. I love the replacement of the porch with a portico but if you don't want to lose the patio, I agree that beefing up the posts to look like the ones on that portico would do wonders. I did that with the porch posts on my home and I couldn't believe how much more curb appeal it gained from just that little change (see the before and after pics of my home). You'd get a lot of bang for your buck without having to spend a fortune. The addition of a third post next to the garage with a railing between that and the second post might look nice too. Or amp up the style of the porch by adding some arched trim in the front, as I have on my porch. Definitely replace the garage door, which also looks dated, with a carriage style one.

Maybe something like this? if there is enough clearance with the above windows.

Ooh I like the peppercorn!

i don't like big pillars on your colonial house, I would make them slightly bigger rectanhles without fancy embellishments and I like the idea of adding a third post as well as a curved header as on avnetd1s house. Keep it simple

I'm against painting brick...I would have a professional stain it so that it looks like this...

You want to keep that three dimensional quality...

I won't comment on the gray choice. If you stick around here and read, you'll see that everyone wants it. And I prefer to think about what looks best instead of what I think I like.

I love the image above that you showed with the beefed up posts and no shutters..

okibujp...wow that is amazing! I didn't even realize it was my house at first. I have never thought about going so dark, but I like how it mutes the brick. I love the entryway!

We have gone back and forth with the idea of painting. I'm mostly against it, even though I'm sure it could look great (now). It's the later that I'm worried about. Plus, I don't want to make our house feel like it doesn't belong in our neighborhood. If we decided to stain the brick, what color combos would work?

okibujp, I just noticed the garage door...you would suggest that to go the peppercorn color?

Am I the only one who thinks (this is a purely observational, non-expert, non-judgmental opinion) that "beefing up the trim" is kind of a nuveau-tacky thing brought forth in the era of flat windows, hardieplank, and PVC trim?

uswings200, yes. I would paint the garage door to match the siding.

uswings2000, If you like the SW Peppercorn, buy a quart and paint an area of the siding where it meets the brick. Maybe do this somewhere in the back or side of the house. Look at it for a few days and at different times of the day. Don't just paint a small area. Be brave! It's only paint and can be painted over if you decide it doesn't work for you. My sister painted her siding and gutters Peppercorn and she loves it. You might also consider power washing your brick. It's amazing how nice it makes it look.

uswings2000 - what did you end up doing? Would love to see some pictures!

We took the shutters off our 1970 colonial house. No regrets!

I would love to see what you did too!