I'd paint shutters and gables forest green.

Also, I second beefing up the posts. Cedar, perhaps?

+1 on the forest green color

I like the forest green idea!

No paint. The wood shutters and shakes are keepers, they just need to be darker. Less orange.

I'd experiment with a Jacobean-ish stain first - I'd be looking at the darker dark brown in the brick as a jumping off point for the new stain color.

I am another vote for beefing up the posts. Sleeves can be made or purchased that will give them a thicker appearance without needing to actually replace them if they are structurally sound.

I agree with Lori about using stain rather than paint on shakes and shutters since it will be less maintenance and a nicer appearance on the shakes in particular. You can look at traditional browns, but stains are also available in a range of colors, including a fair number of greens if you like that idea. I think forest green is darker than I would choose since I wouldn’t want the color depth to be great than that of the darkest brick. Stains come in semitransparent and solid colors. Here is a link to Cabot solid color stains, but you can also look at semitransparent colors along with whatever is available from various other brands.

https://m.cabotstain.com/color-list.php?c=exterior&o=Solid%20Stain&all_colors=1

I also might consider whether keeping the garage door white is the best choice since you want it to not stand out. I would play around with different colors for shakes, shutters, garage, and trim boards. Sherwin Williams (and most likely other paint and stain companies) have a tool on their website that you might find useful which lets you upload a photo of your home and try out different colors.

Since you also posted in Landscape Design, though you didn’t ask any specific landscape questions, are you happy with the current highly pruned shrubs and willing to do the work to maintain them, or are you looking to replace them? The one good thing about them is that the evergreens set off the house well, but I don’t find the actual plants and style particularly appealing.

I would begin by at the very least removing the two shrubs along the walk by the porch entry. They narrow the opening unnecessarily. Instead you want a generous landing at the base of the porch step that reaches the entire width between the two brick pillar bases. If it is in the budget, widen both walks so that two people can walk abreast and move the walk from the driveway away from the house a few feet towards the street to enlarge the bed on the garage side. Ideally a foundation bed is a minimum of 6’ deep with more depth allowing for more attractive planting. You want to avoid moving the walk so far out that it will interfere with the maple’s roots. Prune off the lowest two branches on your maple. (Either have it done by an arborist or do a lot of reading on how to properly prune so that you don’t cause damage.)

For any further input on the landscaping we need a bit more information. Add a set of photos taken from a single spot on the main walkway about half way between the street and the house, about as far out as the tree. Begin facing the left property line and rotate your body, taking a series of slightly overlapping photos that span across the property to the right property line. That way we can see the whole width of your property from closer in along with things on the adjoining properties that might influence yours such as large trees. What direction does the front of the house face? Generally where are you located, such as state and nearest large city, and what USDA growing zone? This will influence what plants will be happy here.

it's hard to tell, but the Shutters and wood shakes are already painted orange. Staining them now is probably not an option.

You are sure it is paint rather than solid stain?

I am not sure. How can I tell?

Here are more pictures from the side.

I live in North Texas. Near Dallas.

Post a closeup of the shakes and shutters and maybe we can tell stain vs. paint.

The additional photos all need to be taken from the same spot (don’t walk around!, just turn in place) and you should be standing straight out from the front door, on the sideway half way between the street and the front door.

Do you have white windows with black storm windows? If so, change the storms to white to match the window. Change the front door from red to a shade of brown or something to match more closely to the brick (hard to see the brick colors exactly from the photo).

Close up of shutters and brick

Landscape photos Left side

Landscape photos right

I agree that it's a lovely home. I also agree on bigger porch supports and removing the shrubs at the doorway. Do that, then assess.

I'd like to see a more impressive looking sidewalk and approach to the house. How about adding facing brick to the existing concrete on the porchlet, then a much wider sidewalk to the street, also covered with facing brick. The sidewalk leading to the driveway is too small too and it's pinched up against the house. Move it out and make it wider too. Can you find facing brick to match or blend with your house?

Do you use the tiny sidewalk leading to the left side of the house? If not, remove it. *Edited to add* you and I were crossposting! That sidewalk on the left looks more like a planting bed border. Remove it.

With the orange tones in the brick, I would choose a soft, toned-down version of blue or green. Examples...

Not thrilled by the red door. Paint the garage door as well?

I agree the red door has to go.

I'll suggest replacing the single column with a pair of larger ones as shown on the right.

And I might experiment with a darker trim color.

PPF, thank you for your input!

I like PPF’s suggestion for trim color and would use it on the garage door as well.

Thanks for the additional landscape photos. I would definitely move the left side walkway out fron the house to at least 6’ so you have room for a more attractive replacement planting. I would also remove the curbing along the bed to the left so that the garden area can be made larger there as well. I wouldn’t yet remove all the plants because you have a large tree to the left of the house, and it can be tough to establish new plantings under a huge tree like yours, which appears to be an oak based on the leaves I see in the lawn. Rejuvenation pruning of the shrubs farthest to the left may be the best strategy. I would remove all shrubs from the large shrub at the left corner of the house all the way across the front since they are all crammed into too small a space against the house. Leave the ones to the far left facing the brick patio(?) wall.

i wouldn’t add a bay window since I think it wouldn’t improve the feel of the front of the house which is really lovely. For the porch posts, simply repainting may be enough since the current paint job with the white center stripe makes them look from a distance far skinnier than they really are.

I'm not great with mockups, but here's an attempt to show what it might look like with forest-green shutters & shakes, as well as beefier posts, door, & garage door in cedar.

PPF trim colour looks great. I'd stay away from a pure white on your windows or anything else. It will make your earth-tone colours look "dirty".

From the shutter picture, it does look like a solid color stain, so I would assume the shingles are too.. You can either use solid color stain in another color, or paint them. Your choice.

I'd be surprised if that was paint and not a solid stain.

If you're hiring a painter, I'd just tell him what you want with regard to stain and let him figure it out.

If you're doing it yourself, take a shutter off and take it to a professional paint store and tell them what you want to do. They should be able to coach you on product and process for the shutters and the shakes.

Thank you all for your input! Our neighbors on each side have painted their brick and it looks very updated. Our house with the current colors and landscaping sticks out like a sore thumb.

Our neighbors on each side have painted their brick and it looks very updated.

No one likes to paint ugly brick more than me. Life is too short to live with unfortunate brick color choices just "because it's brick". Especially when there are products out there like Romabio.

But yours is not ugly. It's actually a very attractive mix of warm off-whites and I absolutely would not change that brick.

You can easily shift the look to a modern farmhouse vibe.

Keep everything light and natural.

Light, off-white trim and garage door.

Figure out how to make the shakes and shutters look like they are stained. And seriously look into a Jacobean(ish) stain color.

Update the coach lights - a lantern style and they need to be a lot bigger than what's there.

A red front door is always a good choice but after you get the trim and shutters/shakes straightened out you'll have a lot of options for the front door color if you don't want to keep the red.

If the neighboring house is an example of updated, I'd prefer to stick out for being beautiful. Most houses that have these "updates" look good while that iteration is in vogue and look dated after that. Your home is classic and lovely. It just needs a couple of tweeks to bring out its ORIGINAL beauty.

vaporvac, my thoughts exactly! Just wasn't sure how to do the tweaks.

Everyone's input has been SO helpful!

Are you sure the shingles have a stain on them? When I enlarge the picture they look like their natural color.

Shutter photo isn’t the natural color, and since it is the same color as the shingles, I have to assume that the shingles aren’t natural either.

There is definitely something on the shutters and shakes. My husband had to replace a few shakes and he thought he painted them, but it could have been a solid color stain.

I like the idea of beefing up the front columns as well. I’m a fan of natural materials so if you can preserve a wood stain and mirror the new thicker columns with a wood stain ... it can enhance an already beautiful home.

Try googling Austin Ranch style homes for inspiration

Also I am a fan of natural plants both to the terrain and not “hedged”

Remove all the hedges. Add some curves for the front plants and fill with natural shrubs and flowers. Let it just “be” a garden. Replace the smaller tree with a larger tree: perhaps a large Texas live oak. Again google what is natural plants for Dallas / North Texas

I am going to respectfully disagree with two pieces of gardening advice:

“Replace the smaller tree with a larger tree.” Time will make your current tree larger and if you replace it now, it won’t be with a larger tree, so you will actually be setting back sizing up your tree. You currently have quite a number of good-sized trees, either at the edges of your yard or just into the neighbors, so you will be fine as to trees. Just do a bit of limbing up of your current tree so that it doesn’t hide the house.

”Add some curves for the front plants”. I have no issues with curves if they are either a single, long sweeping convex or concave curve or are logical such as a gentle outward sweep of the bed to accommodate a wider plant. What I dislike (and think is poor design) is random wiggles created solely so that the bed line isn’t straight. You home would look fine with a single long curve or straight beds, either with occasional added width for a wider plant..

Can you cover your front pillars with a white piece of paper and take a photo similar to the first you posted? It may be that they are currently wide enough visually if painted differently, or they may benefit from a bit of extra width, but that is difficult to determine with the current two-toned paint.

some ideas:

Dig Doug, I love this design! Thank you.

The porch would need to be extended to accomplish this . How big of a task is this considering we would likely need to make the gable larger ? What type of contactor should I be looking for? I would say you're hired, but it looks like you're a ways from North Texas.

I don't think he actually made the Gable bigger I just think he moved the two posts out and extended the porch a bit. If you did this it would be nice to save the brick from the posts and keep it as original. Removing the hedging made a big difference. I also think making those front beds deeper and moving the path that goes to the driveway for their out would improve the feel. It seems rather cramped now. You may not even need it to pending how you enter the house.

The gable size did not change. The job is not huge to widen porch, but is best done by a contractor.